The Connecting Shropshire programme is striving to extend the availability of NGA (Next Generation Access) broadband infrastructure to meet the Government’s target for 95% of the UK to have access to superfast broadband speeds by the end of 2017.
To achieve this, Shropshire Council intends to procure further coverage of NGA broadband infrastructure (capable of delivering download speeds of at least 30 Mbps) in the Council area where such broadband is currently unavailable. The key objective of the Connecting Shropshire Local Broadband Plan is to provide 100% coverage with NGA broadband infrastructure and for as many premises as possible to be able to have access to superfast broadband speeds.
Shropshire Council now intends to conduct a further open procurement for the remaining premises without NGA broadband infrastructure (known as “white NGA”), which comprises around 15,754 premises.
In July 2016, Shropshire Council conducted an Open Market review (OMR), consulting with prospective or current broadband infrastructure providers in the area, to establish any current and planned (next 3 years) commercial coverage of NGA services. The data gathered, in addition to the areas expected to be served through the Connecting Shropshire Phase 1 and Phase 2 deployment, have been used to redefine the scope of the eligible Intervention Area for the next stage of the programme.
The static maps show the areas with existing, planned or no coverage (of NGA broadband infrastructure capable of delivering download speeds of at least 30 Mbps), classed as black, grey or white for State Aid purposes. In addition, Connecting Shropshire has developed a dynamic map layer that attempts to show a more granular and accurate level of detail, see: Public Consultation NGA Dynamic Map 2016.
Any gaps in Next Generation Access (NGA) and Basic Broadband are shown on as yellow on the maps. In addition, some premises have been labelled as ‘Under Review’ and are shown on the NGA map as blue. These are in planned commercial coverage areas which will be subject to continued monitoring and verification of supplier plans over the 3 year period. In the event that these commercial plans fall away these premises will be mapped as white NGA and form part of the proposed intervention area and eligible for intervention via this aid measure.
Shropshire Council is now conducting a one month State Aid Public Consultation on the proposed Intervention areas. This is an opportunity for the public, telecommunications providers, businesses and other stakeholders to comment on the Intervention Areas, ensuring that the Council’s representation of their commercial plans is correct.
Shropshire Council is requesting information and supporting evidence in relation to basic and NGA broadband infrastructure within the Shropshire Council area and wishes to hear from all relevant stakeholders (including residents and businesses as well as broadband infrastructure operators), particularly in relation to premises to be targeted as part of the NGA intervention area.
For the avoidance of doubt, there is no need to respond to this public consultation if you have no comment to make.
For residents and businesses, where this relates to the ability to receive an NGA service, any information provided in response to this State Aid public consultation should as a minimum include (but need not be limited to) the address of the property or locality that the submission relates to and the nature of the concern.
If the response is from an infrastructure provider and comments on the white, grey and/or black or ‘under review’ classifications within the attached maps or data, or on the wholesale products to be offered via the subsidised network, then the submission should also include the specific information set out in Section 8 and should be emailed to connecting.shropshire@shropshire.gov.uk
For all other submissions, please use the response form, which can be accessed via the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/connecting-shropshire-public-consultation
The public consultation will run upto 5 September 2016.
If you have any questions about any of the above, please contact Connecting Shropshire by email at: connecting.shropshire@shropshire.gov.uk.