A broadband campaigner has urged rural towns and villages in the
West Midlands to take a lead from an innovative Cumbria
community.
The parish of Alston Moor is one of the most sparsely populated
areas of England. When BT installed the first generation of
broadband it only reached Alston years after many urban areas.
This led to the establishment of Cybermoor, one of the first
social enterprise broadband projects in the UK, aiming to build its
own superfast broadband network. The co-operative will be laying
the cable and the network will be owned by the community rather
than a corporate business.
"It is a very interesting concept," said Glyn Pitchford, elected
Business Voice West Midlands business representative on the City
Region board.
"We want the Government to do far more than it has to date to
develop next generation broadband, but self-help projects are
important too.
"There may be no alternative if rural communities are not to end
on the wrong side of the digital divide as the Government's plans
for future superfast broadband take shape. For example, farmers
will have little incentive to redevelop redundant buildings, for
offices, retail or leisure use, if suitable broadband isn't
available."
Mr Pitchford said, though there were cost issues facing small
numbers of people 'banding' together, it was worthwhile determined
communities investigating what might be possible and exploring the
availability of grant aid.
A recent study by regulator Ofcom confirmed that urban consumers
receive average download speeds 15 per cent faster than their rural
counterparts.
Current plans for superfast broadband from BT and Virgin Media
will probably see only half the UK's households covered. Many rural
areas are likely to miss out.
Virgin Media's network will only cover half of the homes in the
country while BT has so far committed to an investment of
£1.5 billion in fibre, which would mean coverage for about 40
per cent of the UK.
The Broadband Stakeholders' Group estimates that to lay a
national network delivering fibre to every home would cost
£29 billion.