Case Studies

This section highlights a number of regional projects which set out to bring next generation broadband access to homes in both the UK and across other countries.

Creating a Broadband Backbone for North Yorkshire

For a long time, the citizens and businesses of North Yorkshire struggled to get the full benefits of connectivity. There was a distinct communications blockage primarily, many suspected, because the region lacked a decent broadband infrastructure. 

South Yorkshire Ubiquitous Next Generation Broadband

The investment made by Digital Region to create a ubiquitous next generation broadband infrastructure could reinvigorate local industry and make South Yorkshire one of Europe’s most attractive and dynamic business environments. Senior business development manager Richard Jepson says he is looking forward to meeting this challenge. After all, they’ve solved this problem before and now they can apply that experience and do an even better job.

Manchester develops next generation access (NGA) Broadband

A key priority of Manchester’s statutory city region pilot is to expand and diversify the City Region’s economic base by creating the best conditions for innovation accelerated by next generation digital infrastructure.

Cities with good communications infrastructure are attractive to investors and have higher property values. They are better equipped to grow strong knowledge and creative economies. Today a good communications infrastructure means high speed, high quality digital networks that can keep up with accelerating demand and with the investment in competitor cities.

Nuenen develops fibre to the home model

Nuenen, near Eindhoven, is a market town where the community built their own open access network, called OnsNet (or “out network”) some six years ago. The scheme was created in a partnership between the community, the town's housing association and a civil engineering company with some support from the Dutch government.

The project demonstrates that a community can develop a very successful and sustainable telecommunications system and lay bare a few myths along the way:

Gateshead's Baltic Business Quarter Goes for Economic Growth

In order to create economic growth locally, a high speed broadband infrastructure was needed for Gateshead’s Baltic Business Quarter. But with private investors nervous of committing the funds, Gateshead Council took the bold decision to create its own state of the art network. But how could it justify the expense?

All regions can benefit from the efficiencies that broadband brings to a local economy, but often an instant return on investment is not possible, as the timeline for effects of the fiscal stimulus cannot be quantified.