Posted: 29th Nov, 2011 By: MarkJ

Fibrestream (
NextGenUs ), a UK based community network specialist in
fibre optic broadband services, has today announced a "
radical offer" to help "
community-minded"
local schools gain access to a reduced cost or even
free symmetric superfast broadband service. But there's a catch.
Fibrestream (NextGenUs) Founder, Guy Jarvis, explains:
"As a not-for-profit social enterprise, NextGenUs UK CIC, in common with the other members of the NextGenUs democratic franchise, takes the community interest very seriously and is pleased to announce a radical offer to help community-minded local schools reduce their internet access costs drastically, with the genuine potential for free service!
This outcome is simply achieved by schools working together with NextGenUs to provide SSB (Symmetric Superfast Broadband) for the local community in exchange for a discount to the cost of school internet service in proportion to the percentage uptake by the local community.
Where fibre is present already, the proven NextGenUs approach is to provide a minimum internet feed of 100Mbps symmetric (same upload as download) and the preferred feed speed is Gigabit, as soon as local demand for service warrants the extra investment and ongoing costs incurred."
The proposal lacks detail, although it appears to point towards the
use of existing public infrastructure for the delivery of superfast broadband services to the wider community. Various rules and regulations often make this difficult to put into practice, although NextGenUs already claims to have several
pilot areas for the new scheme in
Cumbria,
Yorkshire (North, South, East and West),
Lincolnshire and
Leicestershire. NextGenUs are also welcoming enquiries from schools across the country.