HISTORICALLY Northampton has not been good at making ground breaking decisions. Our local government in their wisdom decided that railways were a dirty unnecessary advance in technology that would never catch on, hence we are not a main line station! Ikea wanted an outlet at Junction 15 of the M1 but that would “detract from our Town Centre” and now Bletchley get the benefits of this iconic retailer. So, what’s the latest faux pas!
Well there is an organization known as LGSS (Local Government Shared Services) the procurement service covering Cambridgshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes for the public sector. Apparently, they have recently issued a tender document to invite parties to bid for a wide area network project. The rumored approach within the tender allows the provision of copper/fibre mixed network for the foreseeable future! The scale of the project is so huge that only 2 companies in the UK can tender! Readers you get one guess at which “British” company is likely to win. This means that full-fibre networks would be excluded!
Now correct me if I am wrong but Northampton, Milton Keynes and Cambridge have ambitious plans for economic growth, attracting businesses out of major cities to our logistically well placed area. But as things stand we will still have an antiquated network infrastructure relying on copper. Meanwhile our near neighboring city, Peterborough, have invested in full gigabit fibre for its public buildings, hospitals, schools and the like. This will elevate countless areas into the 21st century such as education, health care and many more as well as business. Shall we all move to Peterborough then? Today connectivity comes very high on the agenda for all of us, and don’t be mistaken if you are thinking “this doesn’t include me”. As the hi-tech revolution evolves you will be wanting to use the myriad of advances available, virtual reality for instance.
In November 2016 the government acknowledged the need to invest in the UK’s digital infrastructure by promising £400 million towards the installation of full fibre. Having got the commitment from central government then we need to ensure that Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, and Cambridgshire are utilizing the opportunity to future-proof the region. Full-fibre enables our public and private sector and even residents to join the many countries that already enjoy “ultra-fast” connectivity instead of languishing in the past (and possibly the future) with copper. (Didn’t we used to cook with copper pots?)
For more information on the above see last months article “Ensuring Future Growth in the Digital Age”.
