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The North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) in Scotland has today announced a “groundbreaking digital plan” that, over the course of between 10 and 15 years, will aim to ensure that “all council housing tenants” (36,575 homes) will gain access to “free internet access, a first for any Scottish council“.
The announcement is somewhat vague on the details of the internet service that tenants can expect to receive (i.e. it’s unclear if this will be a fixed line broadband or public WiFi style solution), although the council did say that it would be an “affordable, ultrafast, secure and reliable internet service” (certainly “free” is “affordable“, although it does seem odd to be using both of those terms together).
The goal of this project is to address digital exclusion, which can create barriers to knowledge, opportunity, skills and employability – particularly with more council and partner services now being delivered online. “The benefits can be life-changing, with increased choice and control over how they interact with services, faster access and improving their customer experience,” said the announcement.
Apparently NLC intends to adopt a “smart-home model” that is tailored to the needs of tenants. “Improved safety and security, energy efficiency, smarter operations such as CCTV and sprinkler systems and maintenance management are benefits for tenanted homes,” but it added that the opportunities for education, employability, health and social care and social inclusion were also “vast“.
Councillor Michael McPake, Housing Convener, said:
“Digital North Lanarkshire is one of the key priorities within Our Programme of Work and our 15-year deal with Commsworld to transform and improve connectivity across the region has delivered a 340km network of gigabit cable ultra-fast full fibre to support our exciting plans.
The benefits of providing a full internet service to our council tenants are far reaching. These can range from people being supported to live independently and having greater control over their care, to the use of SMART technology which measures temperature, CO2 levels and humidity, optimising heating and providing alerts to faults. It also helps improve customer service and experience by enabling seamless end-to-end processes to fulfil service requests.
We’re investing in digital and technological solutions that will benefit people, communities and business across North Lanarkshire.
By rolling out a full internet service to council tenants, we’re reducing the digital divide and offering increased choice and control over how tenants interact with key services. The effects of this programme will be felt for generations to come, improving access to increase opportunities and reduce inequalities allowing people to reach their full potential and prosper.”
As well as the lack of detail on precisely what kind of service and speed tenants can expect to receive, the announcement also lacked any information on the level of public investment involved or a clear explanation for why it would take over a decade to roll out. But we wouldn’t be surprised if the local authority offered a basic/restricted service for free and then provided paid upgrades for faster or more flexible tiers.
One other potential issue here could be the impact upon local market competition between established network providers, which may not be pleased with having their own packages and customer base undercut by a free alternative. Hopefully more details will surface in the near future.