UK firm to help bring broadband to rural areas
According to a recent report a UK organisation is to be involved in the rollout of broadband to rural areas as part of major European project.
Following its introduction of high speed broadband access in North Yorkshire, the UK company NYnet has been asked to partner in a major European project to roll out broadband access to rural areas. The project is called the B3 – Regions for Better Broadband Connection project, and it aims to try and help the thirty percent of rural areas that do not have access to broadband, which affects both residents and businesses.
The company was set up by North Yorkshire County Council and the purpose of setting up the firm was to provide high speed broadband access to rural areas so that businesses wouldn’t be left behind. The company is also working with various local community groups to try and extend this high speed broadband access to homes as well as businesses. Clive Downing, business development manager for NYnet, said: “There are around 30 communities in North Yorkshire that can’t get DSL at all because they are too far away from BT’s exchanges.”
The European Union’s broadband performance index shows that around seventy percent of rural areas can access broadband, but the project hopes to provide the remaining thirty percent with the same capabilities. The main project encompasses around seventeen mini projects across Europe, and the UK based NYnet will help with the implementation of this access.
Mr Downing went on to state: “We were selected to take part because we actually have a business up and running. We have found a business model that works whereas some public sector schemes work only until the grant runs out.”
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There is no doubt a significant problem for rural areas where broadband cannot be accessed. But for most rural areas, the problem is the speed when connected. In the cities much higher rates are available than in the countryside.
My community is just 16 miles from Manchester, but we cannot get much more than half a megabyte of download speed.
The result is that AT LEAST one third of those 80% who commute into town for work do so since they cannot work from home because of low broadband speeds.
The job reaction potential of rural broadband is huge; at least another 100 jobs would be created locally if we had better speeds. And of course this is not to calculate the carbon footprint of those who commute: across the High Peak of Derbyshire the average per head of population is 25 tonnes of C02 per annum. This would be reduced by 30% with better rural broadband.