25 April 2012. Glyn Paton, who managed Hampshire County Council’s rural broadband project, which connected hundreds to superfast broadband where it was not previously possible, has set the case for using Public Service Networks (PSN) for residents in rural areas. 

As the first county in the UK to connect all schools to a fibre network, Hampshire is in a great position to use this technique. Hampshire has now also become the first location to use its PSN to connect local residents that previously could only get a maximum 500 KB/s service. 

“As a result of this project the residents of the village of Little London, Hampshire now have improved broadband than those in the City of London. Residents in the area now experience 40 MB per second.  Considering they previously had no access to broadband, they cannot believe how fast their service now is,” said Mr Paton.

Mr Paton was involved with the project from the initial tender and procurement stage and said the winning bid was chosen because it allowed any service provider to use the network.

“We wanted this project to have extra credibility by being open and allowing any service provider to get involved. Where we are now, the residents of Little London, Hampshire have superfast broadband, with the choice of 30 different service providers. This would not have been possible without Netadmin and the other partners, Magdalene and Fluidata. These parties together enable a platform that allows residents to connect to a world of new services,” Mr Paton added.

Torbjorn Sandberg, CEO of Netadmin, commented that the potential for using this model in areas with a high quality PSN is massive.

He said: “I see many opportunities for other local authorities to use this model to solve their residents’ need for fast broadband. Using a PSN can be a very cost effective way of providing suitable connectivity. The residents in Hampshire now have a greater range of service providers than most.”

Take up of the pilot project has been very successful with 60 to 70 per cent of residents projected to utilise the PSN in Hampshire once previous broadband contracts have expired. Mr Paton understands that IFNL is now connected to the platform extending the reach to a further 40,000 properties.

Virgin Media was responsible for providing the infrastructure for the Hampshire PSN which provided backhaul.

For further information about the project and to find out about Netadmin, visit www.netadminsystems.com.