Agenda item

(To receive a report by Steve Brookes (Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager), which invites the Committee to consider the work of the Lincolnshire Broadband Programme and highlight any comments for future consideration)

The Committee received a report and presentation from Steve Brookes (Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager), which provided a status update on the Lincolnshire broadband programme.

The presentation outlined the current status of the Lincolnshire Broadband Programme.  It detailed the number of premises that were fibre enabled; the levels of coverage achieved; and the latest financial position.  The presentation also outlined the current status of the Phase 2 contract, which aimed to take Superfast broadband coverage to 97% of all UK premises by the end of 2019. 

The timetable for Phase 3 was a start date of autumn 2017 and a finish date on December 2019. Phase 3 would provide faster broadband to over 9,000 additional premises across the county, of which 97% were in area designated 'Rural' or 'Very Rural'. 

Detailed information was provided as part of the presentation, which covered the following points: -

·    Current status;

·    Funding position;

·    Number of premises involved;

·    Timescales; and

·    The Future.

Members were provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

·       The current Lincolnshire Broadband Programme comprised of two distinct projects, working under the existing BDUK (Government) Framework Contract and executed by BT;

·       Project one was completed on time and had met the key objectives, which were detailed within the report. It was also completed with an underspend of circa £14m.  In addition, customer take up was well in excess of projected (current take up was 44%, against a projected 20%), and under a clawback agreement in the contract, BT had made an advance payment of £4.65m;

·       Project 2 commenced on 1 April 2016 and the key objective for the project to push county-wide superfast coverage up to 95%, or as close as possible.  The project was currently ongoing, running ahead of schedule and was expected to complete ahead of time.  The project would deliver a further 7,000 fibre enabled premises under the original agreement when Phase 2 was signed;

·       An additional 17,000 premises had recently been added to Phase 2 and it was now expected that Phase 2 would complete on 31 December 2019, with 97% of all premises receiving Superfast broadband;

·       There were a number of subsidiary issues ongoing, which included the consideration of alternative technologies to deliver to the remaining 3%; and the programme was currently bidding for additional government funding to deliver more full fibre networks;

·       Mobile communications in terms of 3G, 4G and 5G coverage was currently outside of the scope of the programme;

·       The Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub was supporting businesses across Greater Lincolnshire to increase their use of digital technologies, including Superfast broadband.  A Councillor was assured that the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub was supporting a business local to Boston with their connectivity issues trying to seek a resolution;

·       The Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager advised that it was hoped that the issue where West Lindsey District was excluded from the work programme, would soon be resolved.

·         Any new development with 25 or more dwellings would have BT fibre broadband installed.  Planning authorities had been made aware of this requirement;

·         The longer the length of copper wire, the slower the broadband would be. Therefore, the closer a premises was to a cabinet, the faster the broadband; and

·         The OnLincolnshire website (www.onlincolnshire.org) provided further detail on the project.

The Committee thanked the Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager for his detailed update.

RESOLVED

That the report, presentation and comments be noted.