To receive a verbal update from Harjit Hunjan, Community Partnership Manager, on behalf of Superfast Berkshire.

The Forum received a verbal update from Harjit Hunjan, Community Partnership Manager, on behalf of Superfast Berkshire.

The Superfast Berkshire project started in 2011, as part of a Government subsidised national programme, to improve broadband coverage in areas deemed not commercially viable for the private sector.

The original aims of the project were to;

•           Ensure all Berkshire premises could access basic broadband, at speeds of 2Mbps or faster

•           At least 90% of Berkshire premises could access superfast broadband, at speeds of 24Mbps or faster.

Superfast coverage across Thames Valley is now set to rise from around 65% delivered under the commercial roll out of the private sector to in excess of 99% once Superfast Berkshire’s contracted delivery is completed. .The Royal Borough is expected to achieve around 92.7% superfast coverage.

In October 2013 Superfast Berkshire signed a contract with BT for Phase 1 of the project that is currently scheduled to deliver superfast coverage of 91.6% by the end of 2015. Further investment and a contract variation has increased expected superfast broadband coverage to 92.3% by the end of 2015.

The contract with BT has now finished its deployment and resulted in an upgrade of 120 cabinets that serve 24,000 premises across Berkshire. Within RBWM, there have been 19 cabinets upgraded that serve almost 3,400 premises, taking the district superfast coverage to around 92%.

Details of these cabinets and the areas they serve can be found on the SFB project website at www.superfastberkshire.org.uk

A second procurement for broadband services was initiated at the start of 2015 by 4 Berkshire districts (including RBWM).  In July 2015, Superfast Berkshire signed contracts  with Gigaclear and Call Flow Solutions to extend superfast coverage to 95.6% by the end of 2017.

A contract was awarded to Call Flow Solution in July 2015 to upgrade a further 11 cabinets in RBWM benefiting around 1700 properties. These are in the areas of Windsor, Wraysbury, Horton and Burchetts Green.

Work is well underway with surveys and the completion of installation activity. These cabinets are expected to be upgraded providing superfast broadband to properties they serve around mid 2016.

The project is backed by all six Berkshire unitary councils and the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The Forum were advised that the project was being run in phases. Phase 1 was completed and 92% of areas reached instead of 99%. Phase 2 started in July and will complete what was not reached in Phase 1. Harjit Hunjan informed the Forum that the borough would benefit the most as a further 11 cabinets were being placed around the borough. Phase 3 will improve things further.

Superfast Berkshire is in dialogue with a number of broadband suppliers who are interested to expand coverage across the region. This includes Warwicknet who focus on provision of broadband to business parks and industrial estates, Virgin Media who are looking to expand their existing cable network, Hyperoptic who look to target apartment blocks and similar residential areas and BT on new housing development sites.

In addition the project is assessing potential ‘funding release’ from the phase 1 contract and how this might be used to bring all districts up to 95% (or possibly 97%) superfast coverage depending on how far the money will stretch. RBWM are in line to benefit most from this exercise as they are currently expected to reach 92.7% coverage once Phase 2 has completed by mid 2016.

There is an initiative using a satellite solution that is expected to be made available to some areas under a set of strict criteria before the end of 2015. Again, details expected to be made available on the project website in December

 For further information about the Superfast Berkshire project visit www.superfastberkshire.org.uk  or contact

Colin Batchelor

Superfast Berkshire - Project Manager

Tel: Ext (01635 519114) Int(2114)

Mobile  07776 188719

Email   cbatchelor@westberks.gov.uk

The Chairman went around all Members and asked about the reception in their area and on their farm. Generally the coverage was poor and Members felt that it was not going to get better. They felt that there was lack of communication and were not informed of any progress.

ACTION: Invite Colin Batchelor to the next meeting.