Rural Gigabit Future: Rural Scotland

One of a series of 6 workshop events around the country to develop and share innovative thinking around rural projects to bring full fibre connectivity to the hardest to reach locations.

Background

The DCMS Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) challenge fund has successfully inspired the development of a range of projects across the UK levering the delivery of full fibre connections to public sector buildings to extend the wider commercial availability of full fibre networks. Recent LFFN projects have demonstrated the potential for the approach to extend full fibre networks into rural areas.

The Superfast rollout programme followed an 'inside-out’ approach – starting with the lowest cost areas to upgrade and progressing to the more difficult areas. This presented good value for money for the initial programme, but became increasingly expensive. Following the success of the LFFN programme, DCMS is now considering options for a new approach for full fibre deployment – targeting the hardest to reach areas first.

INCA Rural Gigabit Future Events

This is a new direction, and is going to need new thinking. The INCA Rural Gigabit Future Events Programme aims to bring together DCMS, local authorities and network providers to consider the demands and opportunities of this new approach:

• DCMS – current thinking and sharing best practice around the country
• Local Authorities – where is the edge and what does it look like?
• Network Providers – technical and commercial approaches to the new challenge.
• Key Projects – experience from other developing projects.

The events are aimed at local authorities, network providers and communities aiming to secure a full fibre future for their areas. The format will be a series of brief presentations, followed by a panel session to answer questions and develop understanding of the issues.

Agenda

13:30 : Registration

14:00 : Welcome and Introduction - James Saunby, INCA

14:05 : Strategic plans and priorities - speakers tbc, Stirling Council

14:30 : National Developments - Ryan Lewin, DCMS; speaker tbc, Scottish Government

14:50 : Panel discussion - chaired by James Saunby

15:20 : Refreshment break

15:30 : Case study - Tony Monaghan, Hellermann Tyton

15:45 : Community perspectives

• Gigabit Society - Andrew Mitchell
• Lothian Broadband Networks - Nic McCormick

16:30 : Panel discussion - chaired by James Saunby

17:00 : Final wrap-up and Networking

This event is organised by INCA in partnership with Stirling Council and the Forth Valley & Lomond LEADER programme.

Pricing: £65 + VAT per person

For any queries about this INCA Member event, please contact Gill Williams.

Photo by Matthew Hartley licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.