NETWORK provider Commsworld has been awarded a contract worth £22m by Northumberland County Council.

The contract will see £114m of private investment into the region to transform and support the county’s digital infrastructure over the next 20 years.

It involves replacing its ageing Wide Area Network (WAN) with full-fibre infrastructure which will also provide businesses and communities across the county – including its most rural areas – with access to faster, high-quality, reliable connectivity.

It will see Commsworld deliver 262km of new fibre infrastructure, which will transform connectivity to nearly 150 council sites. It will also enable access to more than 120,000 residential and business properties across the county to Fibre To The Premises (FTTP).

The fibre infrastructure will be linked to Commsworld’s Optical Core Network (OCN), a next-generation network in which it invested £10m, built specifically to boost security and resilience of digital infrastructure to organisations the length and breadth of the UK.

The OCN will act as the ‘spine’ from which wholesale fibre broadband providers can branch out into towns and rural areas of Northumberland at reduced rates so communities can enjoy significantly improved digital connectivity of up to one gigabit per second for gigabit-capable fibre broadband.

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The contract will also see Commsworld work in partnership with iNorthumberland, Community Action Northumberland and the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) to tackle digital poverty, alongside digital skills and confidence within the communities of Northumberland.

Cllr Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council, said: "This long-term approach marks a new and historic way forward for the council and its positive impact cannot be underestimated.

"We are one of the first rural counties in England to focus on changing the lives of our communities by not only providing the infrastructure to give them ground-breaking access to full-fibre broadband, but future-proofing the system so it can adapt and grow according to the needs of everyone who lives and works in Northumberland."

Bruce Strang, chief operating officer of Commsworld, said: "This is our first major contract of this kind in England, having similarly delivered massively enhanced infrastructure to local authorities in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and the Scottish Borders. 

"We are looking forward to bringing the full, transformative benefits of our Optical Core Network to Northumberland."