York to get Ultra-Fast Broadband

The news that Sky/TalkTalk are to launch an ultrafast broadband service in the City, possibly as early as next year, is welcome.

The high speeds on offer will be a boon to businesses in the City particularly those in the technology reliant sectors.

It may also provide a boost for “home workers”.

The City has many broadband providers but the domestic market is dominated by the BT network and Virgin.

Virgin in particular provides a high speed service – shortly to increase to 150 mps in some areas – which most leisure/domestic users will find adequate. It comes at a price though.

Competition is generally good for the consumer.

There may, however, be some downsides.

Unless the new network provider – CityFibre – can utilise existing utility ducts, we could be in for another period of damaged footpaths. NTL (Virgins predecessor) didn’t win many friends as it ploughed up the City’s streets nearly 20 years ago.

A technique called “micro trenching” will apparently be used (details here)

And pricing will be important. Commercial users will take a hardnosed approach.

Residents living in the suburbs and villages around York may, however, find that the market simply couldn’t fund the new infrastructure at this point in time.

We will see.

In the meantime the Council Leadership is promising “citywide” coverage.

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Higher Broadband speeds for small businesses in York

A £1m scheme to support small businesses (SMEs) to get connected to high speed/high grade broadband with one of over two hundred registered suppliers has been launched today.

Supporting York’s aim to become one of the best digitally connected cities in Europe, the scheme offers SMEs the chance to sign-up for a connection voucher worth up to £3,000, for a limited period of time, to gain access to faster broadband and completely transform the way they operate.The scheme is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), as part of York’s status as one of 22 SuperConnected Cities.

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£1million scheme to connect York small businesses with super fast broadband

A broadband connection voucher scheme is being launched in York early next year to provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs up to 250 employees) better quality, high speed broadband.

Funded through Government’s ‘Super Connected Cities’ programme and City of York Council, the vouchers will provide assistance of up to £3,000 per business for SMEs seeking faster and better broadband (of at least 30 Mbits) to support them in growing their business.

The York voucher scheme is just one element in York’s strategy to become the best connected digital city of its size in the UK. The city launched the world’s first city tour application which uses ‘hologram tourist guides’ for visitors and proposals are well advanced to provide wi-fi in the city centre during the first half of 2014.
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