Broadband pioneer showcases to Europe

A pioneering computer network which provides cheap broadband connections to homes and businesses has been displayed at a European Commission conference.

NYnet is a private company set up by North Yorkshire County Council, which has attempted to improve internet access for the county's rural areas.

It was created with £4 million from Yorkshire Froward, a regional development agency, along with £1 million from Europe.

The council has given it a ten-year contract to provide internet access for 400 schools and 200 other buildings, while 600,000 people could eventually benefit.

"300 million Europeans are excluded from the digital economy. A third of these people are excluded because they can't get fast, solid or reliable broadband," the Press Association quoted chief executive David Cullen as saying.

"We aim to improve social and economic prospects and service capabilities moving the area into the 21st century and to put North Yorkshire and the UK on the map as rural broadband providers."

Figures from the European Commission released earlier this week showed that the gap in penetration between EU member states has narrowed from 27.7 per cent in July 2007 to 28.4 per cent in the same month this year.