Scotland: National Rural Network
Does your community have an idea for a broadband project? If so, you could bid in to a new one million Euro challenge fund, announced by the Scottish Government today, which aims to improve the coverage and the speed of broadband in rural areas.
The Rural Broadband Challenge Fund will be delivered through the LEADER programme which supports small-scale, community driven projects in rural Scotland. Examples of possible projects for the new challenge fund include the upgrade of exchanges, pilot projects into next generation broadband and supporting a business collective to access better broadband.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead said, "The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that as many people as possible have broadband access and have already carried out a significant amount of work in this area.
"With it being used by more and more households as standard, I hope that this new challenge fund will further enhance Scotland's broadband infrastructure and help rural firms gain a level playing field at a time when they need it most.
"Fresh investment through LEADER will bring faster speeds, improved coverage or simply research to identify the digital needs of an area."
Applications to the Rural Broadband Challenge Scheme will be assessed by LEADER Local Action Groups using their existing procedures. Local Action Groups will then submit suitable bids to the Scottish Government for final assessment by an independent panel. Deadlines for applications to LEADER Local Action Groups vary, please check with the LEADER programme in your area for details. You can get contact details for the LEADER Local Action Group in your area on the Scottish Government website or in our Useful Contacts section.
The deadline for bids to the Scottish Government is 24th September 2010.
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If you're interested in
If you're interested in setting up a broadband project, you might want to check out the Community Broadband Scotland website. The introduction to the website says, "This website is intended as a guide for communities that currently have limited or no access to Broadband Connectivity. We aim to show how barriers can be overcome in order to provide connectivity to these out of reach areas. This website has been set up as a resource for communities needing assistance, advice and information on setting up their own Broadband networks."