Fourteen cities eligible to be super-connected cities
Fourteen cities across the UK have the chance to become super-connected cities, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today.
In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor George Osborne announced up to 10 cities would share 拢100m and become super-connected with 80-100Mbps broadband access.
皇冠体育app four capitals - London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast - will benefit while the others will be chosen through a competition.聽
Today details of those eligible to apply have been published along with .
皇冠体育app competition is open to the eight core cities and the UK cities that have more than 150,000 dwellings.聽 皇冠体育appy are Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield.
皇冠体育appse cities have the necessary size and economy to be able to use super-connected status to drive growth, attract new businesses to the area and transform the way services are provided and accessed.
皇冠体育app Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport said:
鈥溁使谔逵齛pp internet is now a fundamental part of our economy.聽 We must ensure the UK has a broadband network fit for the digital age.
鈥淭ransforming communities into super-connected cities will enable them to compete with the world鈥檚 top digital cities.聽
鈥淚t will help them attract new jobs and new investment and make the UK a place where digital businesses look to come.聽 It will help our creative industries and high-tech companies grow while making the UK even more attractive to overseas firms.
鈥淣ew businesses are being set up because of the internet while many others are using the internet to grow.聽 We are determined to ensure the UK has the digital infrastructure we need to drive growth.鈥�
As part of their proposal to the urban broadband fund, the cities will have to bid for a share of the 拢100 million and detail how they will use it.聽
BT and Virgin will strengthen their networks in the winning cities to deliver 80-100Mbps broadband speeds.聽 皇冠体育app city鈥檚 share of the 拢100 million can be used to provide coverage in areas where BT and Virgin will not go or services beyond what the market will provide.
皇冠体育app bidding cities will have to show how they will use super-connected status to drive growth with a particular focus on SMEs and strategic employment zones.
Proposals will also need to include plans for city-wide high-speed mobile connectivity and bidding cities will be expected to contribute to the cost by providing additional investment or using public assets.
Proposals have to be submitted by February 13 2012 and the successful cities will be announced in the Budget in March.聽 皇冠体育app Government will then work with the successful cities to produce fully developed plans and the money allocated to each city will be announced in July.
皇冠体育app four capitals will become super-connected cities but will still need to produce a plan detailing their proposals.
Notes to Editors
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皇冠体育app Government wants the UK to have the best broadband network in Europe by 2015.聽 皇冠体育app Comprehensive Spending Review allocated 拢530 million for investing in broadband over this Parliament with a further 拢300 million available by 2017 as part of the TV licence fee settlement.聽 皇冠体育app 拢100 million for super-connected cities is additional investment.
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.聽皇冠体育app eight cities are the largest and most economically important English cities outside of London.聽
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