Friday 29 March 2013

Invitation to Tender

Due to overwhelming interest from potential suppliers from the UK and internationally we have decided to extend our deadline for submissions by two weeks. 

The Tender will now close at midnight on the 28th April 2013

We are most grateful to all those who have expressed an interest and encourage bidders to consider that the additional time permits you to create the most competitive solutions.

Dent Parish Council

Members of the Fibre GarDen Team will make a presentation at the Dent Parish Council AGM on Wednesday 17th April at 7:30pm.

This will provide an opportunity to update the Council on the progress of the project and how we see the project timetable panning out in the coming months. Any resident of the Dent Parish Council area are welcome to attend.

Sunday 24 March 2013

New Vice Chair

A new Vice Chairman was elected at the Fibre GarDen Board meeting on Friday. Stefan Kosciuszko, who has been involved in the project since it's early days and a Director since the formation of Fibre GarDen Limited  in March 2011.

Due to the increasing size and complexity of the project, the Board agreed that we needed someone to focus on the formation of the new legal frame work and publishing of the share offer. Stefan will be working closely with our professional advisers in achieving this over the coming weeks.

Broadband is essential

broadband, never knew we needed it, now can't do without it! This excellent article by GH Davies is well worth a read if you ever doubted that you needed broadband.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

This is an interesting BBC article referencing some research done by the regulator Ofcom, and a report by the Community Broadband Network on funding options for the problem of the last 10% in the UK - the rural hard to reach places which include much of Cumbria.

Ofcom appear to be saying that the average broadband speed has trebled in the last 4 years to 12 Mb/s, but when you look into the figures, actually it is the contracted headline broadband speed that has trebled and not necessarily the actual speed of connection enjoyed by the subscriber.

Both of the major providers in the UK, BT and Virgin Media, have recently doubled their headline speeds on all contracts, which will have led to a speed increase for some subscribers whose line would support a higher speed, but for many there will have been no change. For me in Garsdale my contracted broadband speed went from 8 Mb/s to 16 Mb/s with BT, but actually we've never had as much as 2 Mb/s, so for Ofcom to claim speeds are increasing on this basis seems unfair.

By way of analogy, the Department for Transport could claim that congestion is improving because they've surveyed car sales and cars are getting faster.

The danger is that this metric is cited as proof of improving broadband in the UK, when the metric we need Ofcom to concentrate on is the speeds people actually connect at and enjoy - not a theoretical maximum service rate.

This said, the Ofcom research does indicate that broadband speeds are increasingly important and will likely continue to be so.

From John Colton, Technical Director.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Interest Grows

Interest in the Fibre Garden Invitation to Tender continues to grow with 25 inquiries responded to so far, 12 of which were today. This interest is extremely encouraging as it demonstrates the value of this community project to industry and the importance of them being involved at all levels.

The tender period runs from the 4th March 2013 to 14th April 2013, evaluations will be undertaken by the 12th May and successful applications notified by 28th May 2013. Contracts will not be issued until all required project funding is in place.

Requests for the tender document must be made either by email (admin@fibre-garden.co.uk) or by written request to: The Secretary, Fibre GarDen, Corner Cottage, Sedbergh LA10 5BB.

Friday 8 March 2013

Excellent Response

We have received an excellent response to the publication of our Invitation to Tender, released on Monday. A good number of inquiries have been responded to and we look forward to seeing many more in the next couple of weeks!

Saturday 2 March 2013

Invitation to Tender

Fibre GarDen has been working towards publishing an invitation to tender for its fibre network requirements.  This document has now been approved by BDUK and DEFRA, we are now in a position to publish this and invite interested businesses or organisations to tender for our requirements.

The tender period runs from the 4th March 2013 to 14th April 2013, evaluations will be undertaken by the 12th May and successful applications notified by 28th May 2013. Contracts will not be issued until all required project funding is in place.

Requests for the tender document must be made either by email (admin@fibre-garden.co.uk) or by written request to: The Secretary, Fibre GarDen, Corner Cottage, Sedbergh LA10 5BB.