Pace to extend broadband coverage in South Yorkshire

Yorkshire-based digital firm Pace is to provide the technology to link sheltered accommodation, apartment blocks and social housing to a new high-speed broadband network.

Thales has established the network itself and the Shipley-based Advanced Digital Institute has secured funding for the Pace project, reports the Yorkshire Post.

Pace will use its MultiDweller Kit, which is designed to enable more people to access pay television services, and residents in multi-occupancy accommodation across the region will be able to access high-speed broadband through communal television antennae.

Mark Rooney, group account director at Pace Networks, told the paper: "A huge number of people are missing out on many digital services, including premium pay television, broadband internet and digital telephony in their homes."

He added that high-speed broadband is otherwise difficult to feed into multi-occupancy accommodation.

Virgin Media and BT are both investing substantial sums of money in extending next-generation fibre optic networks throughout the UK, which could boost the take-up of VoIP solutions.