Rural community broadband

South West RDA has been awarded an extra £700,000 for rural community broadband. This comes from the European Economic Recovery Plan, and will be administered through RDPE.

We are planning to support one or two innovative pilot projects which will help to demonstrate both the demand for and delivery of high-speed broadband access in rural communities. This will contribute to the wider national debate about next generation access and may help to secure private investment in the future.

A call for projects closed in mid-January 2010, and the resulting applications are now under consideration. A decision is expected in April 2010.

The fund will not cover projects for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which are already receiving significant broadband investment through the Convergence Programme.