The idea
Since the estate is not on BT's planned rollout of superfast broadband, we investigated some other avenues and there is a project called Community Broadband. BT will fund most of the deployment of fibre, if the community will fund a small portion to meet the gap between the amount BT will provide and the full cost of the project.
Initially, almost half the estate responded to a FaceBook poll saying they would be willing to pledge £140 since they want/need faster broadband.. We are asking those people to pledge that amount.
Some people who work from home or run a business from home are willing to pledge more, or can claim it on work expenses or put it through their business. We are asking for £300 from those people.
We are asking the remainder of the residents, who will benefit from the faster service, to contribute £55. If we can obtain external funding, these values will obviously go down.
What we'll deliver
- BT will provide fibre infrastructure to the estate. Residents are then free to select any broadband service provider
Why it's a great idea
Studies have shown that the availability of superfast broadband adds around 3-4% to the value of the property. Conversely, not having superfast broadband can reduce the value of a property by 20% compared to a similar house with access to superfast broadband. Currently we have a maximum of 7Mbps (normally around 4-5), with superfast we would have at least 24Mbps (but probably somewhere between 30 and 60)
Steps to get it done
- Once the funds have been raised, a legal entity will enter into contract with BT Openreach
Having superfast broadband on the estate would allow us to set up other community projects, such as web-based CCTV at the entrance to the estate, or Wifi hotspots in the park.
