Rural Communities Broadband Fund

In the Chancellor's autumn 2011 statement, the government announced the £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund. This is to be used by rural communities to fund the provision of super-fast broadband, to those who will not benefit from the initial funding provided by Broadband UK (BDUK). The BDUK funding is designed to cover 90% of the UK with a broadband service of 24mb and above.

Super-Fast Broadband is more correctly called 'Next Generation Access' or NGA. This is defined as 24mb and above speed for internet connection. The government's target is to provide NGA to 90% of the country by 2015. This leaves a gap of 10% which can best be categorised as those communities hard to reach. They will get a service but this will only provide them with 2mb speed or less. Many, if not all these communities, will be based in rural areas.

The Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBDF) is only available to those communities who are identified as being in the 10% areas. The funding is designed to provide 50% of the funding needed to help communities get an NGA service of 24mb+. The funding is provided by DEFRA, through the RDPE funding section and an initial Expression of Interest Form is now available for those interested in applying for funds.

The first tranche of money requires communities to submit an Expression of Interest by 31 January 2012. BDUK and DEFRA have both stated that they only expect communities that have plans for an NGA network that is fully costed and ready to go, to apply in the first instance. A second tranche will be available later in the year, but no official date has been given.

In order to help communities who may consider applying for the money, BDUK have provided an online toolkit to help with the process. This gives a variety of models that a community can use when deciding if they are going to apply for the funds. The models also show the level of risk that the community will encounter, depending on which they choose.

For more information on the Rural Broadband issue and the RCBDF, please contact Peter Hirschfeld on 01430 434047 or email peter.hirschfeld@hwrcc.org.uk

 Download the RDPE Expression of Interest Form below.