MK Residents to Get Affordable High-speed Broadband Services

11.09.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 18th Oct 2007

Council plans to provide Milton Keynes residents with better access to affordable broadband services have been unveiled.

The Liberal Democrat cabinet has given the go-ahead to set up a council-owned company - Connect MK Ltd - which will work in partnership with Pipex Communications Ltd and Pipex Wireless Ltd to provide new Wimax wireless-based broadband services offering good broadband speeds, with quality and reliability, at reasonable prices. It is expected that residents who can only get slower broadband speeds will in future have new broadband options offering better services. Connect MK Ltd will also promote better social and digital inclusion for the less well-off residents of MK.

Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Gerrella, cabinet member for information technology and e-government, said: "Milton Keynes is a thriving, forward-thinking city, with thousands of businesses and residents looking to be at the forefront of communications technologies.

Connect MK will provide a modern service for the modern city of Milton Keynes. It will help businesses and the wider community to access affordable broadband and internet services. All residents will be able to access council services at the touch of the button and work towards our social inclusion agenda."

The new company is scheduled to start operations in November and will support the Council's vision of raising the number of households in MK that have access to digital technology from around 60% to 90%. Connect MK plans to open at least three more digital service centres to make IT and internet services easily available to residents.

To meet its social inclusion objectives Connect MK will lend 1000 desktop and laptop computers, at a nominal figure of £1.50 per week, to MK residents on benefits and those living in the most deprived areas. Microsoft has already given support to this loan schemed by providing software licenses.

New Wimax broadband transmission equipment is already being delivered and installed (the next transmitter will probably be on the East flank of Milton Keynes) and other transmitters will be installed elsewhere as soon as possible.