Home Page Haverhill News

Suffolk's £41m plans to build a super fast broadband network across the county have received strong financial backing from the Government.

The £11m investment pledged by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport means Suffolk can move forward with its ambitious goal to create a broadband network fit for the 21st century.

It follows a decision by Suffolk County Council to invest up to £10m in the project - a move which almost certainly proved crucial in securing the backing from Government.

Cllr Mark Bee, Suffolk County Council's leader, said: "I'm ecstatic. From the day I was elected leader I've wanted this and have worked hard with all our partners to make it happen.

"Today is an important milestone in our ambition to create for Suffolk a broadband network fit for the twenty first century. We can now crack on with the project and turn our ambition into a reality."

Delivering the £41.7 million project will help local businesses grow, improve educational attainment and remove a major block to public service transformation in Suffolk.

Suffolk currently has one of the poorest broadband networks in England. The average broadband speed currently experienced by Suffolk’s consumers and small businesses is under 5Mbps.

This lack of good broadband coverage in the county has created a major constraint on business growth and a block on public service transformation.

The total cost of implementation is estimated at £41.7 million, of which approximately half should come from the private sector.

Suffolk is hoping to complete the procurement phase (to secure a supplier to install the infrastructure) of the project by the third quarter of next year so deployment should begin before the end of 2012.

It is envisaged that the infrastructure will take up to two-and-a-half years to complete, so March 2015 is the target date for completion.

The Suffolk target is to have 85 per cent of Suffolk premises with access to superfast (20Mbps or greater) fibre optic broadband. The remaining 15 per cent of premises will be served by fixed wireless broadband.

Which areas will be affected and when will be finalised after procurement process.