Rural Broadband Pilots

Submitted by admin on October 20, 2010 - 21:06

In the Comprehensive Spending Review on October 20th, the government announced that the four pilot projects to be run by Broadband Delivery UK will be in the Highlands and Islands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire.  The funding for this is essentially being redirected away from the BBC.  £230m is left over from the budget allocated to the Digital Switchover in previous years.  The BBC will be required to contribute a further £150m in each of 2013-14 and 2014-15, bringing the total to £530m.  This could be increased to £830m if the BBC is required to contribute the same amount in 2015-16 and 2016-17 (which is when this current settlement with the BBC expires).

The project to provide superfast broadband to Cornwall is costing £132m, so on the face of it £230m in the next two to three years would not go far when spread across the four pilot areas.  However, we have been given to understand by BDUK that these pilots are going to be subsidised for initial capex, rather than funded entirely, perhaps to the tune of £5-10m each.  It is also expected that they will be able to utilise existing public sector networks in those areas for the middle mile element. 

We expect the relevant bodies to go out to tender for the work as early as this Winter.  It will be fascinating to watch it play out.