Broadband News
News, views and analysis
Scotland addresses broadband notspots
27 Jun 2008 | 12.15 Europe/London
The Scottish Government has awarded a £3.3m contract to Avanti to bring broadband to some 3,800 properties who registered and were validated as not being able to access existing services.
The notspots, or should that be naespots, will receive either an individual satellite broadband solution or a wireless service with the wireless network being connected via a satellite link or ADSL line depending on the number of users in the local area.
At over £800 per end user we can see the high cost of filling in the gaps in Britain's broadband map but we welcome the Scottish initiative and would very much like to see English Regional Development Agencies tackling the same problem south of the border.
Avanti won a competitive tender to service the properties identified by a notspot registration scheme.
Several county councils in England, such as Hampshire county council, are running their own notspot programmes. The issue is far from limited to rural areas alone - even rapdily expanding areas such as Basingstoke are finding that many new housing developments are being built with little or no broadband availability.
The notspots, or should that be naespots, will receive either an individual satellite broadband solution or a wireless service with the wireless network being connected via a satellite link or ADSL line depending on the number of users in the local area.
At over £800 per end user we can see the high cost of filling in the gaps in Britain's broadband map but we welcome the Scottish initiative and would very much like to see English Regional Development Agencies tackling the same problem south of the border.
Avanti won a competitive tender to service the properties identified by a notspot registration scheme.
Several county councils in England, such as Hampshire county council, are running their own notspot programmes. The issue is far from limited to rural areas alone - even rapdily expanding areas such as Basingstoke are finding that many new housing developments are being built with little or no broadband availability.