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The programme started with big ambitions, with expectations that funding would be aimed at kickstarting FTTH and high speed wireless connections in gigabit 'digital districts' and support economic and digital inclusion objectives. INCA members have expressed concern that these big ambitions are being gradually whittled down to a process of FTTC in­‐fill, wireless concessions and end user vouchers that at best will help get BT’s ‘fibre on demand’ service off the ground. Whilst good for the incumbents' current businesses, this will not create the sort of ground-­breaking projects we are seeing in urban centres in Europe, North America and Asia.

The issue of high speed broadband for rural communities is about more than just technology; communities themselves will  need to play a crucial role in bridging the gap between government and market plans and lack of provision, but the debate so far has failed to empower communities.

This is the message from Plunkett Foundation and the Carnegie UK Trust -  who have worked together for over 90 years on a range of rural issues across the UK and Ireland - in a jointly-produced new paper on the issues of rural broadband provision that calls for more support for communities setting up their own broadband services.

Current government plans to address the issue of broadband provision for the UK’s population could leave around 10% of rural communities struggling to get access to high speed broadband -rendering many of these communities unable to play a full part in 21st century life. This will force communities to take on the challenge themselves - something they currently feel unable to do.

INCA Ultra-Connected Smart Cities

On 16^th May Manchester Town Hall hosted the launch of INCA’s ‘Ultra-Connected Smart Cities’ special interest group. More than seventy representatives from cities, the private sector and community projects participated in a high-powered event designed to push forward the agenda for urban ultra-fast projects.

Transformational Digital Infrastructure

New applications are  invited together with any reworked applications which were deferred from the first round where fundamental issues need to be addressed. 

The £20m Fund is jointly funded by Defra and BDUK, and complements BDUK’s mainstream broadband rollout programme. The Fund enables the funding of superfast broadband projects in the most hard to reach areas in England, bringing superfast broadband to a greater number of communities than would otherwise be reached. This will ensure that a greater proportion of businesses and consumers in those communities can take advantage of the benefits of superfast broadband. More information about the fund and details about how to apply can be found on Defra’s Rural Development Programme for England Network webpage

INCA's response consisted of three elements:

1. A brief document setting out INCA's answers to the specific questions raise din the call for evidence. Download the PDF.
2. A vision paper - '2020 Vision' - proposing a different approach to public policy-making for digital infrastructure development. Download the PDF.
3. 'Financing UK NGA' - a paper based on a series of interviews with key players in the NGA space, carried out under the Chatham Hpouse rule. The report gives a 'warts and all' view of the current process from a non-incumbent perpsective. Download the PDF.

Information on the select committee call for evidence.

Is BDUK on the Right Track?

INCA Statement on Geo’s withdrawal from the BDUK Process

Whilst not unexpected Geo UK Ltd’s announcement on 16 November that it is withdrawing from the BDUK Framework and future NGA procurements marks a sad day. Even more so since Cable & Wireless Worldwide has apparently pulled out of the Cumbria procurement and there are rumours that BDUK’s shortlist may be getting shorter by the day.

Geo is a well-organised and effectively-led company that is actually delivering fibre networks in both urban and rural settings. In fact they are just the sort of company that government should be encouraging in the context of next generation networks. However Geo can’t make its model work under BDUK’s current approach.

The heart of the proposal is €9.2bn of funding for broadband from a proposed ‘Connecting Europe’ facility of around €40bn covering transport, energy and digital networks for the period 2014-2020. The directorate in the Commission responsible for the digital agenda, DG Infosoc, will formally put forward its proposals on 19th October. They then go into the EU’s decision-making process involving the Commission, Council of Ministers and European Parliament, before any funding becomes available.

Ken Ducatel of DG Infosoc explained at the 12th October meeting in Brussels that the plan envisages committing €7bn for infrastructure investment and €2bn for support services platforms. The aim is to help member states reach the EU 2020 targets of 30mbps for 100% of the EU population and 100mbps for 50%. Informed commentators expect the UK’s allocation to be around €1bn.

The proposals envisage some grant funding for projects, but channeling the bulk of the funding into financial instruments designed to lever in substantially more private sector investment. DG Infosoc estimates size of the funding gap in Europe to be €270bn, so €9.2bn needs to do a lot of levering.

The warning follows the publication of results from the CMA’s Internet Opportunity Survey 2011, supported by FSB and Point Topic Ltd, and sponsored by DCMS and Openreach, which shows that nearly 30% of respondents report that they cannot get current generation broadband – internet speeds up to 24Mbps - where they want it. Although this is an improving picture over the last 4 years, it shows that enterprises still do not have universal access – 10% of businesses have no access across any of their sites. Only 14% of businesses report having SFB – speeds above 24Mbps - available at all sites.



Hambleton is the first community Gigaclear is working with as part of their targeted to build an extensive FTTH network across the country that clearly benefits residents and businesses.

The Gigaclear network is financed from a group of private investors from Hambleton Village. The model sees a long-term loan secured against the network so that the investors reap a triple benefit: a financial return, a stronger sense of community, and an Ultrafast Internet experience.

Every customer will see latest technology installed with fully-supported router capable of 1000 Mbps. Each router comprises:

- Gigabit fibre network interface

- 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports connecting home network devicesf

- Wireless BGN at up to 300 Mbps

- IPv4 and IPv6 Firewall


The BDUK Framework PQQ for next generation broadband is an odd document. On the one hand it says BDUK wants to encourage small and medium sized enterprises to join in, on the other financial and other criteria clearly exclude all but a handful of large players. There are provisions for smaller companies to join consortia, but only if a consortium can be set up and ready to go in a month  - and that month is July.

The document also appears to redefine ‘superfast’ broadband as anything from 15Mbps to 50mbps+. The European targets for 2020 are for 50% of the population to enjoy 100Mbps and 50% to have 30mbps or over. So we could find up to £830m of public funding spent on networks that deliver half the minimum speeds of our European competitors. Previously government officials have said that superfast means anything over 24Mbps – meaning there must be at least some fibre, or high speed wireless, in the access network. BDUK seems to be stepping back from that ambition.

Serious concerns have been expressed by industry players, including INCA members, about the costs of accessing BT's infrastructure. We need to get this right in order to help create a genuinely competitive market and ensure we maximise the impact of public investment in next generation services. INCA supports the statements made in letters to Ed Vaizey and Ian Livingston and we are committed to working with our members and BT to find a workable solution as quickly and efficiently as possible.

INCA has welcomed the Government's commitment to creating the 'Best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015'. It is a tall order, but an ambition that we can all get behind. The big players like BT and Virgin Media, plus the host of smaller innovative companies, public sector bodies and communities are all working hard to make it a reality. The Government's new strategy 'Britain's Superfast Broadband Future' and the Secretary of State's speech bring together many of the strands that we need to level the playing field and get competition going in the provision of next generation infrastructure. It is great that the Government has taken up the 'digital village pump' idea that has been put forward by a number of broadband champions and is a central feature of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's 'Digital Scotland' report published in October. This could go a long way to tackling one of the big problems with all rural broadband services - the costs of backhaul - the connection from the community to the Internet.

Dave Carter acting Chair of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) and Malcolm Corbett INCA's acting CEO today welcomed the appointments of Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey, who will both be responsible for Britain's key technology issues.

Malcolm commented: "Jeremy and Ed have both been closely engaged and have a good understanding of the issues. We were delighted to welcome Ed to the NextGen conference in Leeds last year and look forward to continuing a positive dialogue over the coming months."

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association welcomes the government’s commitment in the budget to support the roll out of next generation ‘superfast’ broadband in areas that are likely to be left behind by the market. Alongside major players like BT, independent projects all over the country are working to bring next generation broadband to their local citizens and businesses.