Leicestershire Council is looking at ways that more residents and businesses could benefit from super-fast broadband speeds.
The Council has acknowledged that giving access to super-fast broadband to more residents would provide benefits to large businesses, as well as home-based firms. Currently around a third of Leicestershire – as many as 190,000 people – could be missing out on super-fast broadband opportunities.
The Government has launched a £530 million pot of money from which area partnerships can bid for funding to support super-fast broadband. The scheme is particularly aimed at rural and poorly serviced areas.
Given funding, Leicestershire Council could develop super-fast broadband in areas such as west Leicestershire, Melton, parts of the National Forest, Harborough and north Charnwood. The Cabinet will discuss proposals early next week.
Deputy council leader Nick Rushton said, “In this fast-moving world, it’s vital that as many Leicestershire people as possible have access to super-fast broadband.
“This could boost business, tourism and homeworking within Leicestershire’s rural economy,” he added.
The Welsh Government recently announced that it is aiming for all Welsh businesses to have high-speed broadband by 2016 and all homes to have the same access by 2020. Under the plans, broadband users would enjoy minimum speeds of 30 megabites per second. 
