Business UK broadband ISP Commsworld has today announced that they’ve completed the construction of the core network build for a new full fibre infrastructure in Northumberland (England), which is designed to replace the county council’s ageing Wide Area Network (WAN). But local homes, schools and business are also seeing the benefit.
The Edinburgh-based operator, which holds a 20-year strategic partnership with Northumberland County Council (NCC), has deployed 262km of new full-fibre infrastructure that can connect employees in 150 council sites. In addition, the new infrastructure has helped to upgrade connectivity for around 115 Northumberland schools.
The infrastructure is also helping Commsworld’s partner and rural focused ISP, Alncom, which has been working alongside the project by utilising funding from the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) to upgrade broadband for 50,000 properties in harder-to-reach rural areas of the county. “The new infrastructure is already providing benefit and enabling us to focus our build plans where the need is greatest to target areas left out by incumbent operators,” said Alncom’s MD, Stephen Pinchen.
Elsewhere, Commsworld is working alongside the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) and Community Action Northumberland (CAN), funding a project which will recruit and train volunteer Digital Champions to engage in rural communities to improve digital skills and confidence. NICRE will also be carrying out a three-year study to capture learning and impact of the project.
Craig Scott, Public Sector Director at Commsworld, said:
“We are delighted to have completed the transformation of Northumberland County Council’s WAN as part of our long-term strategic partnership. This delivery, coupled with our future-proofing of connectivity for years to come, has already seen council sites, schools, businesses and communities benefit from this significantly enhanced connectivity.
Commsworld is now looking forward to working with NICRE and CAN to support people in rural Northumberland to get online and get the most out of digital technology. Digital champions will help bring the benefits of significantly improved internet access to people across the county.
As we all – including the council – adopt more digital ways of living and working, we are committed to supporting people to develop the digital skills and confidence they need to reap the rewards and boost their standards of living.”
Cllr Wojciech Ploszaj, Northumberland County Council, said:
“This is great news for our county. The completion of this project will deliver significant benefits to our communities, particularly in rural areas.
This enhanced digital infrastructure will enable us to improve educational resources and support local businesses by providing access to the fastest internet speeds available. This strengthens our commitment to bridging the digital divide, ensuring even the most remote areas are connected.
I would like to thank Commsworld and Alncom for helping us bring these valuable improvements to Northumberland.”
The new network was previously said to be worth £22 million and has been linked to Commsworld’s latest Optical Core Network (OCN), a next generation network in which it invested £10m.