A new project will provide broadband to 40,000 people and 2500 businesses in the rural West Midlands from October it has been announced. A 40 square mile triangle between Leominster, Ludlow and Tenbury Wells will receive universal 2Mbps wireless broadband giving people in these areas access to the Internet at reasonable speeds.
"The lack of available and reliable high-speed broadband has been identified as a barrier to economic development in rural areas and this has already been earmarked as an issue to be tackled by the new Coalition Government.
With this in mind, I am delighted that - even in today's times of austerity - we are able to bring a long-term plan to fruition by launching one of the largest rural broadband projects of its type in the UK and a potential solution that could be rolled out across the rural West Midlands and even further afield."
Peter Pawsey, (Executive Chair) Rural Regeneration Zone
£200,000 of funding has been secured from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which will be used to help fund the service from Worcester-based Airband Community Internet Ltd. Businesses will be able to benefit from a faster package which will deliver a 10Mbps service. They expect to have around 250 companies signed up by 2013 which would make the project self-sufficient.
More details on the new service and to register your interest, visit the air Airband website.
But how does it work? What hardware? What frequency, 5.8Ghz?