Birmingham to lead extension of voucher scheme to neighbouring LEPs

In the past few weeks, Government has announced that the Superfast Broadband Voucher Scheme will be extended.

The scheme which allows SMEs to receive up to £3000 grant funding to connect to new, superfast broadband connections has been a big success for Birmingham over the last twelve months and things are about to get even more exciting. Over the past few months, we have been negotiating with Local Authorities from our surrounding areas and we are delighted to announce that Birmingham will become the lead organisation and administrative centre for the newly extended scheme which will now cover the following Local Enterprise Partnerships:

1. Greater Birmingham and Solihull
2. Worcestershire
3. Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire
4. The Marches – Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

For further information about the voucher scheme, please visit https://www.connectionvouchers.co.uk/ or alternatively contact Stuart Lester.

Ladywood Health & Community Centre – first to reap WiFi benefits!

Members of the public wanting to improve their computer skills or access useful online services at Ladywood Health and Community Centre will no longer have to go elsewhere following the installation of free WiFi for visitors.

Despite being commonplace in today’s society, those using the centre had been long used to being told there wasn’t any internet connection – and sometimes resorted to asking if they could use staff computers to access the internet.

But now though, thanks to Birmingham City Council’s Digital Birmingham team and the Government’s Super-Connected Cities Programme, the building on Vincent Street West, is amongst the first Birmingham buildings to go live with safe, secure public WiFi through the scheme.

Read the full press release here.

Action A1: Fixed Line Connectivity

There is an urgent and sustained need to stimulate private investment in FTTP and other high speed connectivity technologies for Birmingham. We will take steps to nurture working relationships with new and smaller operators to help them better understand the opportunities available by investing in the city. We will facilitate the sharing of

Action A2: Wireless Connectivity

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices means consumers increasingly expect to be able to connect to a reliable, high speed wireless service wherever they are. Birmingham will continue its drive for ubiquitous high speed wireless coverage by focusing on several areas.
These include: continued negotiations with potential providers to improve the availability of free public Wi-Fi across the city;

Action A3: Data Services

As connectivity improves, businesses will become more aware of the services that can be delivered through it. Helping people to better understand what services like cloud computing, managed services, voice over IP telephony and data storage are, and the