onlincolnshire supporting ICT innovation

Lincolnshire County Council has been successful in securing funding through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to reduce the digital exclusion of disadvantaged (PA2) areas through supply and demand measures. The PA2 area comprises the Local Authority districts of East Lindsey, Boston Borough and Lincoln City Councils. One aspect of the project will lead to investment in infrastructure, to make fast or superfast broadband available in a number of disadvantaged communities, in areas classed as ‘white areas’ for state aid purposes.

Lincolnshire County Council has been successful in securing funding through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to reduce the digital exclusion of disadvantaged (PA2) areas through supply and demand measures.  The PA2 area comprises the Local Authority districts of East Lindsey, Boston Borough and Lincoln City Councils.  One aspect of the project will lead to investment in infrastructure, to make fast or superfast broadband available in a number of disadvantaged communities, in areas classed as ‘white areas’ for state aid purposes. 

There are no significant areas of Lincoln City classed as ‘white’, and so the target districts for the pilots are East Lindsey and Boston.  £300,000 of capital funds are available for the pilots. The locations will be chosen based on consultation with the local community and businesses, evidence of demand and on the basis of technical advice so that a range of infrastructure solutions are tested. 

The pilots are one part of the Broadband Plan for Lincolnshire that will lead to improved connectivity in much of the county.  Most of the rural communities in East Lindsey and Boston are at high risk of not receiving superfast broadband without private and government investment. The project will help to demonstrate the potential and provide local exemplars for other communities to follow, inform our BDUK plan and stimulate private providers and social enterprises to develop local solutions.  As a result the pilots will be aligned with the aims and objectives of the wider BDUK project. 

The pilots are expected to last for 20-24 months. The timetable for procurement currently agreed with the European funding team is a tender should be in place by March 2012 with a contract/s be awarded in early summer 2012.  As a result, the pilot areas should be live by the end of the summer or at the latest during the autumn of 2012.  The pilots will test solutions to broadband connectivity across a geographical territory and these will include fibre to the cabinet, wireless and/or satellite. Therefore superfast services will be available to both businesses and households in the above areas.  The estimated number of businesses expected to be able to benefit from the services is 50-70, and number of households 1500-2000, with around 60-70% take-up. 

For the purpose of this project we have adopted the BDUK definition of Superfast Broadband which is 24 Mb/second.