Tags: eHealth  Digital inclusion  Better public services

Walsall Regeneration Company is leading the way in developing the first 'OurNet' community-owned FTTH project in the West Midlands.

WRC is planning a major new business development in the centre of the town including high speed fibre connections. The chair of WRC heard a CBN presentation about the Dutch OnsNet project and immediately saw the potential benefits for the wider community in Walsall.

CBN was asked to produce a scoping study looking at the potential for an 'OurNet' fibre to the home project in Birchills, a poor community next to the centre. This was followed up in July 2008 with a successful one day conference bringing together local stakeholders from the housing, health, education, business, regeneration, social enterprise and other sectors. Kees Rovers from OnsNet in the Netherlands spoke, enthusing the participants with his 'can-do' community-based approach. OurNet in Walsall will be a first for the West Midlands and a first for the UK.

Tags: Better public services   Digital inclusion Innovation Stakeholding

Manchester's Digital Development Agency (MDDA) contracted CBN to look into the feasibility of creating a pilot Next Generation Access network as the first step in a wider deployment across the city. The pilot will be a "Living Lab" experiment allowing lessons to be drawn on the potential for the technology for economic development and regeneration.

Manchester has a vibrant digital industries sector - a sector which is likely to grow still more with the arrival of the BBC future media department at MediaCity in Salford Quays. Manchester is also home to the only significant Internet exchange in the UK outside London. MDDA (a part of the city council) and its partners in the city region understand the need for a strong broadband infrastructure to make the most of the opportunities. This means developing a sophisicated broadband-connected market where digital businesses can test new products and services, as well as providing connectivity to the businesses themselves.

MDDA has taken a highly innovative approach itself to the question of how to maximise the effectiveness of public sector leadership or intervention, and CBN was asked to look at business models that maximise community involvement and "stakeholding" in the evolving NGA network, an area where CBN has unrivalled expertise.

Tags: Rural inclusion eHealth  

The Angus Glens are an area on the edge of the Highlands with limited access to telecommunications of any kinds. CBN is working with the community to find solutions to their telecommuications needs; today many of the community have only dial-up access to the internet at speeds below the current universal service obligation of 28.8kbps with telephone cables looped along the grass verges.

To make sure that the solution doesn't just help them catch up with other rural areas, but positively solves the issues in a way which supports and enhances their community and area, CBN is helping the people of the Angus Glens to develop solutions froml lessons learnt by rural Scandinavian communities.

With some additional help from C-Plan and Emtelle, both Scottish specialists in fibre-optic networks, they hope to have plans for their area which will deliver super-fast broadband to homes and businesses in this idyllically rural  part of Scotland, bringing not just fast Internet and digital television but also eHealth. Some members of the community are already helping Dundee University to develop solutions for independent living and tele-medicine; the development of a reliable and fast community network will create a unique environment for taking these experiments to new levels.

Tags: Better public services

Next Generation Broadband is increasingly featuring as a strategic issue facing the UK and, in particular, our leading city-regions in maintaining their competitive positions economically.  Everyone in the telecommunications industry agrees that Next Generation Broadband needs to happen.  Opinion is divided as to timescales, methods and business cases.

Digital Birmingham identified the need for specialist advice and input on the issues. We undertook a short project to outline the issues and opportunities for developing a viable approach to the development of next generation broadband services in Birmingham. 

We made recommendations indicating potential next steps required to develop a comprehensive business case and feasibility study.   Birmingham benefited from the experience and insight we have built up over the past 2 years or so in examining and advising on approaches to Next Generation Broadband. 

To make the issues tangible, we worked closely with Digital Birmingham and the City Council's regeneration and planning team in generating ideas that can be implemented as pilot and demonstration projects.

Tags: Digital inclusion

West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative (WWHC) are a progressive housing charity on the outskirts of Glasgow. They are embarking on a project to build a further 100 new homes alongside their existing apartments, and are keen to offer the tenants the kinds of services being enjoyed by their counterparts on the continent.

Having visited Nuenen and seen for themselves the impact that Next Generation Broadband is having on the community, WWHC have appointed CBN to design and deliver a solution for their new homes with the aim of fitting it to the existing homes soon after the building work is complete.

Tags: Fibre and Wireless  Rural inclusion  Digital inclusion  eHealth

While it is unclear where line will be drawn when determining who gets Next Generation services and who doesn't, it is certain that the market will deem some areas uneconomic to install fibre-optic cabling. Developing an understanding of alternative models - both technical and commercial - will be critical for the public sector to understand what interventions may become necessary and where if the UK is to avoid a new Digital Divide.

The Cumbrian parish of Alston is one of the most sparsely populated areas of England. When first generation broadband was being deployed by BT, it was unsurprisingly one of the areas initially deemed nonviable. This precipitated Cybermoor, among the first community-run broadband projects in the UK, and today they remain the top provider of first generation services to the area.

Fully expecting to be on the wrong side of any investment decisions for Next Generation broadband, Cybermoor is looking to maintain their pioneering position by investigating the opportunities for fibre-optic technologies. CBN was commissioned to write a feasibility study, looking at the potential network architectures and business models that might support Next Generation services on Alston Moor.

This is much more than just a desire to be at the forefront of a technology movement, Cybermoor recognises that delivering public services to such remote areas is expensive and increasingly difficult to sustain. As a social enterprise "pathfinder" with the NHS, having access to a super-fast broadband platform will enable improved services to the area at a reduced cost to taxpayers.