Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Friday 2 May 2008, 11:41 AM
Rural Scottish broadband gets £3.4m investment
HEADLINE UPDATED (because I was having an off day when I wrote this - still, I'll leave the body of the story unchanged, otherwise the comments will make no sense)
The European Commission has chucked £3.4m Scotland's way so it can take broadband to the last one percent of the country that currently lacks connectivity.
"The Commission concluded that the aid is well-targeted to achieve this objective and contains adequate safeguards to ensure that Scottish citizens will enjoy the benefits of a competitive broadband market," sez the press release.
What the Commission has not yet said - and I can't get an answer out of them right now thanks to the continent's expansive attitude towards the long weekend (I'm jealous, really) - is how this is to be achieved, and precisely to whom the money has gone. I expect wireless would be the preferable method, but who knows? At least those areas deemed economically unviable by the telcos should finally get broadband.
PreviousComments on this post
Hi David, I have some information you may find useful about this funding for Broadband in out of reach areas of Scotland.
Firstly, the £3.4m is not coming from the European Commission, it's coming from the Scottish Government. In any instances where UK Governments use significant public funds, they must first obtain State Aid approval from the European Commission. This is a safeguard to ensure no commercial organisation will be detrimentally affected by this intervention.
Secondly, it is the Scottish Government that will oversee this project. Following a public procurement exercise, it is hoped that within the next couple of months, a contract will be signed with a provider who will deliver broadband to all the households and businesses that have registered a demand.
Finally, a mix of technologies will be used to roll out delivery with wireless being just one of the options.
I hope this is helpful. For more information, please check out our website: www.broadbandforscotland.co.uk
Cheers :-)
Jo Gwilym, Telecoms Policy, Scottish Government
Thank Jo - my bad. I'll fix the headline to reflect the reality of the situation.
Still, I'd like to know what that mix of technologies will be!
