Regional Development through ICT

Broadband Implementation

Whilst the utilisation of advanced ICT services is widely regarded as key to enabling regional economic development, service availability does not always correspond to areas of maximum need. Both disadvantaged urban and rural areas may suffer from legacy networks not easily configured to carry broadband traffic, whilst lack of competition may not provide the necessary impetus for service providers to launch affordable offerings. Where ICT services are not cheaply and widely available, their potential as economic enablers will be significantly reduced.

Potential options for development agencies and local authorities may include the selective application of initiatives to optimise the impact of existing resources, working with existing network and service providers to help maximise the availability of their offerings, or the construction of publicly-funded Open Access Networks (OANs), especially in developments such as business parks where they can be targeted at the specific communications needs of strategic investors.

InterConnect Communications enjoys considerable experience and knowledge in the provisioning and roll-out of broadband networks, and we are happy to advise development agencies and others on the practicalities involved. Our work to date in this area includes:

Supporting a regional development authority in the planning and installation of operator-independent telecommunications infrastructure on strategic business parks;
Performing a technical assessment of a wireless broadband pilot scheme to provide services to secondary schools;
Assisting a national regulatory authority to assess the options for delivery of second-generation broadband (i.e. with bandwidths of 10Mbps or more), including an examination of the options open to upgrade the existing network to deliver these services;
Working with a regional development authority to develop a costed strategy to ensure that the region would not be disadvantaged for the provision of broadband services. The work involved the development of a model to calculate the cost of providing ADSL services on a regional basis and to identify the level of subsidy required to support roll-out.

Key Service Areas:

ICT for Regional Development

More Information?

For more information about InterConnect's ICT Development services, please contact Eric Tyson by phone on +44 (0) 1291 638400.