London secured the largest amount of funding from Round 1 of the Government’s Urban Broadband Fund (UBF), totalling £25 million. Belfast and Bristol received £13.7 million and £11.3 million respectively.
Analysys Mason, global specialists in telecoms, media and technology (TMT), provided expert ultrafast broadband and State aid advice, stakeholder and project management skills to Greater London Authority, Belfast City Council and Bristol City Council, working as part of our clients’ bid teams to meet the demanding timescales.
“We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to advise and ultimately help these three cities secure such a successful outcome on this round of funding, and we are particularly pleased to have helped secure over 44% of the total funding available for our clients. More recently we have worked with other cities on Round 2 UBF bids, and we are now looking forward to helping our clients move into procurement. Having advised on some of the largest and most complex broadband intervention projects in the world we are confident we can help continue our clients’ success stories,” Matt Yardley, Partner at Analysys Mason, commented on the announcement.
Senior Manager Iqbal Bedi, lead adviser on the London bid, said: “We developed London’s bid to provide fibre connectivity to East London, supporting the growth of ‘tech start-ups’ and securing inward investment – both vital to London’s global economic growth. We also focused the bid to enable digitally excluded Londoners living in high-density social housing estates to gain access to ultrafast broadband and online services.”
Commenting on the successful Bristol bid, Senior Manager Ian Adkins said: “We were particularly pleased that we could help the Bristol team meet its objectives by quickly adapting our existing cost models to test the viability of different delivery options and determine the funding requirements for the agreed approach. We are delighted to have been part of a project that will help satisfy the demand of Bristol’s vibrant creative media sector and its other high-tech businesses.”
Gordon Mooney, Manager at Analysys Mason and an adviser on the Belfast bid, commented: “Having worked closely with the team in Belfast, we are very pleased to have helped them secure significant funding which will allow them to build a more competitive and successful city. The innovative plans for new infrastructure were specifically tailored to meet the city’s needs, with a focus on providing ultrafast broadband to strategic areas, and high-speed wireless connectivity within areas of increasing demand.”
The Super-Connected Cities initiative was first announced in a Government statement in Autumn 2011, when £100 million was pledged to create ultrafast (at least 80–100Mbit/s) (megabits per second) networks in ten major cities (Round 1). Since then, an additional £50 million has been pledged for smaller cities (Round 2).