Surrey County Council plans super-fast broadband investment

Surrey County Council is tendering for the installation of super-fast broadband for businesses and homes in the area by the end of 2013.

The local authority is keen to have the infrastructure in place within the next two years which will see it beat the government's target of every region of the UK having access to a minimum speed of two megabits per second.

Ofcom's interactive broadband map showed Surrey scores highly for its broadband metrics and that three-quarters of the population has access to a super-fast connection.

According to the tender, one in five homes in the region will not be able to take advantage of a quick connection unless there is investment in the appropriate infrastructure.

"Surrey's public bodies and the county's business and voluntary sectors - working together as the Surrey Strategic Partnership and led by Surrey County Council - are seeking to address this inequity by ensuring that everyone in Surrey has access to super-fast broadband," Comupting.co.uk reports the tender as saying.

Rob Johnston, chief executive of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, told the Westmorland Gazette recently that plans to invest in broadband will deliver huge benefits for commercial organisations in the region.