Superfast Broadband in Cheshire

A press release from Cheshire East indicates that the prosopect of SFBB (Superfast Broadband) locally may be one step nearer.

It is therefore even more important that everyone potentially interested in such a development registers their interest. If you have't already done so, you can use the quiuck link in the banner at the top of the Audlem Online home page to access the Connecting Cheshire website and register interest.

It is also clearly vital to continue pressing Connecting Cheshire and Cheshire East to ensure that Audlem is securely within the 90% of the county to be included in the roll-out of SFBB.

The press release includes

#Brussels' green-light boost for faster broadband for all
Moves to roll-out superfast broadband to homes and businesses across Cheshire have been given another major boost following a green light this week (Nov, 20) from the EU.

European state-aid approval paves the way for the UK's £530m rural broadband scheme to start in earnest, meaning that work can begin laying the cables for local authority broadband projects all around the UK.

The go-ahead follows a direct intervention from the Culture Secretary in Brussels last week, after several months of delay in Europe.
 
This decision lifts a significant blockage on progress to move forward with our ambitious plans to deliver more than 90 per cent superfast broadband coverage for Cheshire, Halton and Warrington, under the Connecting Cheshire partnership of four local authorities.

In Cheshire, Council funding will be used to match Government funding of £3.24m already received to date, combined with an anticipated £15m grant from the European Union to deploy new superfast broadband networks, from 2013, in areas where commercial providers have not yet upgraded the existing broadband infrastructure.

Connecting Cheshire expects to appoint either BT Openreach or Fujitsu as its partner next spring, in line with a national procurement exercise overseen by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).

The appointed telecom company will also provide matched funds and this combined investment is expected to ensure that the project will exceed the Government's target of 90 per cent of homes and businesses being able to connect to superfast broadband by 2015.

It is estimated that faster broadband will boost the whole of Cheshire's economy by £1.3 billion over the next 15 years and create around 11,000 jobs.
 
The full press release can be found by following the link on http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/

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