The Edinburgh-headquartered company has replaced Northumberland’s Wide Area Network, laying 262km of new full-fibre infrastructure, ensuring businesses and communities across the county can also benefit from higher-quality, reliable and resilient connectivity.
The WAN was delivered as a result of Commsworld’s 20-year strategic partnership with Northumberland County Council. It means employees in 150 council sites are now connected to far superior network infrastructure, while around 115 Northumberland schools also have access to faster speeds, bandwidth and resilience, providing a further boost to digital learning in the county.
The infrastructure is also delivering a host of further digital improvements thanks to Commsworld’s partnership with local internet service provider Alncom.
The partnership has resulted in Alncom cementing its position as a rural broadband leader, bringing in local investment by utilising funding from the UK’s Project Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to revolutionise broadband to the benefit of the region. This includes a priority commitment to connect 50,000 properties in harder-to-reach rural areas of the county.
As a result residential and business properties, many of them rural, have gained access to high-speed Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) for the first time, directly tackling the digital divide in the county and providing the infrastructure that underpins Northumberland County Council’s progressive approach to connectivity in line with its long-term digital strategy.
Commsworld is also working in partnership with the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) and Community Action Northumberland (CAN), funding a project which will recruit and train volunteer Digital Champions to engage in rural communities to improve digital skills and confidence and help everyone get the most from the improved digital connectivity. NICRE will also be carrying out a three-year study to capture learning and impact of the project, providing a blueprint for digital inclusion and maximising the social value of improved digital connectivity.
Cllr Wojciech Ploszaj, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services at Northumberland County Council, said: "This is great news for our county. The completion of this project will deliver significant benefits to our communities, particularly in rural areas.
“This enhanced digital infrastructure will enable us to improve educational resources and support local businesses by providing access to the fastest internet speeds available. This strengthens our commitment to bridging the digital divide, ensuring even the most remote areas are connected.
“I would like to thank Commsworld and Alncom for helping us bring these valuable improvements to Northumberland."
Craig Scott, Public Sector Director at Commsworld, said: “We are delighted to have completed the transformation of Northumberland County Council’s WAN as part of our long-term strategic partnership. This delivery, coupled with our future-proofing of connectivity for years to come, has already seen council sites, schools, businesses and communities benefit from this significantly enhanced connectivity.
“Commsworld is now looking forward to working with NICRE and CAN to support people in rural Northumberland to get online and get the most out of digital technology. Digital champions will help bring the benefits of significantly improved internet access to people across the county. As we all – including the council – adopt more digital ways of living and working, we are committed to supporting people to develop the digital skills and confidence they need to reap the rewards and boost their standards of living.”
Stephen Pinchen, Managing Director of Alncom, said: “The new infrastructure is already providing benefit and enabling us to focus our build plans where the need is greatest to target areas left out by incumbent operators. Working closely with Project Gigabit, this new infrastructure gives us great flexibility, and has allowed us to deliver full fibre broadband to rural communities previously considered too costly to build full fibre infrastructure. Rural fibre broadband is a game changer for customers in Northumberland.”
Melanie Thompson-Glen, Head of Business and Innovation at NICRE, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with CAN, Northumberland County Council, Commsworld, Alncom and other organisations across the county to help people in rural communities realise the full potential of the improved connectivity. Digital champions will be based in village halls and other community spaces across rural parts of the county, offering drop-in support onsite and partnering with local businesses and community groups to reach more people who need support. By bringing new solutions from this project together with other initiatives locally, regionally and nationally, we can make a real step change for rural communities. We encourage anyone who would like to get involved to get in touch at www.nicre.co.uk/ruraldigitalinclusion.”
