Groundbreaking Broadband contract signed
Friday, November 3 2006
A ground-breaking contract for up to £32 million to bring high-speed broadband connections to hundreds of schools, libraries and council offices throughout the South of Scotland was signed in Livingston, West Lothian, today.
The contract, between the South of Scotland Broadband Pathfinder Project and one of the UK's leading network operators, Thus, will transform the speed, efficiency and flexibility of data transmission for thousands of Scottish school children and public sector workers.
Peter Peacock MSP, Minister for Education and Young People was among those present as the contract, the largest ever of its kind in Scotland and one of the biggest procurement projects of its kind in the EU, was signed.
The Broadband Pathfinder Project is run jointly by Dumfries and Galloway Council and Scottish Borders Council, in partnership with the Scottish Executive. Work to roll out the technologies, which will deliver the Pathfinder network in Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders, will begin immediately and be completed over two years.
The innovative “next generation” network will bring high speed connections up to fifty times faster at some locations than at present. Pupils will be able to share 'virtual classes' with youngsters locally and around the world. Children in remote, rural areas will benefit from top-quality, specialist tuition using multimedia video conferencing. Libraries and museums are also set to benefit with digitalised catalogues and archives, and substantial service improvements.
The new technology will give teachers and pupils access to the vast educational resources available over the Internet, allowing them to share ideas, practice and experience with learning communities across the world.
Philip Jones, Chief Executive Dumfries and Galloway Council and Chairman of the Project Board, explained, “This is a major achievement in partnership working. This next generation broadband network will provide leading edge telecommunication technology to our schools, libraries and all major public offices, and will transform the way we work and how we deliver the highest quality services to local people.”
David Hume, Chief Executive of Scottish Borders Council, said, “This project will provide a new central nervous system for the local authorities in the South of Scotland. The fast transmission of information and data across our areas will mean not only better, faster and more responsive local services, but also will ensure richer learning environments in our schools, community centres and libraries.”
Convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Councillor Tommy Sloan, said, “To be able to take over and run with a project of this size and get to contract signing stage in under two years is excellent work by the project team. It shows what can be done when Councils are prepared to work together. Our public services will be able to compete with the most switched on in the central belt and our schools and learning networks, in particular, will get high speed connections to all the latest developments.”
Michael Cook, Depute Leader of Scottish Borders Council, said “Children today are more familiar than any other generation with methods of communicating using modern technology. They expect to use, and can take advantage of, the most innovative systems to enhance their learning. The rest of the public sector in the South of Scotland will also benefit from the higher speeds, allowing us to develop customer services improvements such as the single citizen account.”
Pathfinder:
Dumfries & Galloway Council and Scottish Borders Council took up management of the Pathfinder project in December 2004. The information for the tender was published in the Official Journal of the European Union in October 2005. Forty nine expressions of interest were received from organisations around the world.
Schools will benefit from the new network, particularly by linking to the Scottish Executive's initiative, GLOW.
GLOW will:
- Allow education to exploit new technologies, including multimedia
learning and video-conferencing and be of particular benefit to remote
rural schools.
- Offer pupils and teachers access to the vast resources available over the internet. It will allow them to share ideas, practice and experience with learning communities across Scotland.
THUS is one of the UK's leading network operators, and specialises in the corporate and small and medium enterprise (SME) markets. It provides a range of voice, data and internet services, operating through the THUS and Demon brands.
Unified Solutions.