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Somerset broadband rollout ‘will beat deadline’

Bosses behind plans for a 21st century internet network in the Westcountry are confident they are beating the deadline which may scupper other regions.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned local authorities in 45 areas across England to press on with ambitious broadband schemes or risk losing taxpayers’ money.

But council chiefs driving plans for broadband roll-out in Devon and Somerset say they are “ahead of the game”.

Meanwhile, Cornwall’s superfast broadband scheme has been funded chiefly through EU rather than British government funding, and top speeds are already being enjoyed by communities across the county.

State cash, drawn from the licence fee, will fund a plan to give 90 per cent of homes and businesses access to “super-fast” speeds by 2015. The remaining 10 per cent will be on a basic “universal” broadband service in the same period.

But the minister is concerned local authorities are not moving quickly enough to make good on the Government’s £530 million investment and has now set strict deadlines.

Draft local plans have to be submitted by February and signed off by the end of April.

Handing out lucrative engineering contracts should be completed within a further three months, Mr Hunt said. Technology firms such as BT and Fujitsu are likely to be in the running. Mr Hunt added: “I will not allow the UK to fall behind in rolling-out superfast broadband.”

The Connecting Devon and Somerset project, led by the county councils in the two regions, has been given £30 million from Whitehall. The councils themselves have added another £20 million.

Councillor Will Mumford, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for the economy, said the local plan had already been approved by the department last May.

He added the project was well-placed to appoint a contractor to upgrade the region’s network before others. There are fears of a shortage of engineers to carry out the work. BT has already started work in Cornwall.

Councillor Mumford said: “Devon and Somerset county councils are well ahead of the game in preparations to ensure at least 85 per cent of rural Devon has access to superfast broadband. We will be one of the first three areas in the country to implement the roll-out process. We are also well advanced with our procurement and are working in partnership with the Government to establish a national framework for suppliers.”

It aims to tender the contract in April and appoint a broadband partner in early autumn.

Nigel Ashcroft, Superfast Cornwall programme director, said the area wants to get to the Government target two years earlier than Mr Hunt is demanding.

Even remote villages in rural Cornwall and Devon will get speeds of 2 megabits per second – quick enough to watch on-demand television services like the BBC’s iPlayer, read web pages and make Skype Internet phone calls.