The government has taken the next step in its initiative to
achieve 100% broadband availability across the UK by the end of
2005, with the award of 17 framework agreements for the provision
of broadband services to the public sector.
The agreements have been made under the Broadband Aggregation
Project, which brings together the broadband requirements and
purchasing power of the NHS, schools, post offices and other public
sector services.
E-commerce minister Stephen Timms said, "By pooling the needs and
finances of the public sector, we are making the provision of
broadband far cheaper for the purchasers and far more attractive
for the service providers - as seen by the number of contract
bidders and winners.
"Pooling public sector broadband purchasing also ensures that more
rural areas, previously seen as too remote or uneconomic for the
infrastructure, will now have access to the social and business
benefits of broadband."
The Framework Agreement covers the provision of broadband
communication, networking, high bandwidth connectivity and related
services to all areas of the public sector in the UK.
A national aggregation organisation and nine regional bodies (known
as Adits) have been established in the English administrative
regions. Each Adit will aggregate public sector broadband demand in
the regions and then take that demand to the service providers.
The Adits have already been working with the first clients, the NHS
and the Department for Education and Skills, to procure
connectivity for the NHS N3 network and to ensure broadband
connectivity to all schools by 2006.