Fibre GarDen, the rural broadband project aiming at bringing 100Mbps speeds to parts of Cumbria, is now inviting tech companies to come and install the infrastructure.
The project’s invitation to tender document has been approved by both Defra and BDUK (Broadband Delivery for the UK) and will see companies interested able to apply from today until April 14, 2013.
The successful applicant(s) will be notified by May 28, by which time we should have a clearer idea on when the digging will take place and when residents of Gardale and Dentdale should expect to get faster broadband speeds.
Read Recombu Digital’s report on Fibre GarDen
There’s no word on any companies expressing interest yet but from what we’ve seen elsewhere in the UK, it looks like something Gigaclear or Calix could possibly get involved with.
So far, over half of the required funding for Fibre GarDen has been raised, with the majority of the money coming from pledges. At the last count a total of £382,500 had been accrued, meaning that Fibre GarDen is just £217,500 shy of hitting the £600,000 target.
Current plans for Fibre GarDen is that residents covered by the area will be able to access broadband services providing speeds of up to 40Mbps and 100Mbps by Christmas 2013. Fibre GarDen, as its name suggests, will supply these speeds over FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) lines, a more robust and future-proofed form of fibre broadband than FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) which uses copper lines in the so-called last mile.
We’ve contacted Fibre GarDen for more information on this news and we’re waiting to hear back.
Image credit: Flickr user eamoncurry123
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