UK county councils team to roll-out high-speed broadband

Plans to deliver broadband to 'notspots' in Buckinghamshire have taken a step forward following talks with government agency Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK). Buckinghamshire County Council expects that a Local Broadband Plan should ready to submit to BDUK as early as October through a collaborative partnership between strategic economic development bodies and local authorities in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Talks between Bucks Business First (BBF) and BDUK have confirmed government support of around GBP 2 million towards the cost of high speed broadband in Buckinghamshire in partnership with commercial wholesale broadband providers. The latest move to collaborate with Hertfordshire is likely to accelerate broadband development by merging the two counties' plans and procurement processes, and setting up a joint project team to drive it forward, aiming at tendering by late-summer 2012.