Market Consultation for South Norfolk Council Broadband initiative, to address potential solution(s) for areas not currently covered by the Better Broadband for Norfolk Programme (BBfN).

Description

South Norfolk Council has actively supported the Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) initiative since its inception. In fact, South Norfolk council has directly contributed funding to ensure that as much coverage as possible is achieved across the South Norfolk Council boundaries. It is anticipated that by the end of the second BBfN contract, 91% of South Norfolk properties will have access to fibre based broadband solutions. With 9% not in scope for fibre deployment under the BBfN Programme. (However, in many cases, these premises can access up to 15Mbps now, via the existing copper infrastructure). It is South Norfolk Councils intention to achieve coverage as close to 100% within the available funding envelopes. Deployment and take up under the Better Broadband for Norfolk Programme will continue to generate additional monies for reinvestment via the Programme, however this will take time to achieve. South Norfolk Council have decided to investigate the opportunity for technology agnostic solutions to be made available to those postcode areas currently out of scope for fibre upgrade under the BBfN Programme. Further details are provided in the attached document.