Leased Line via Digital Region?

[TechSupp]

Anyone heard of the governments 'Digital Region' scheme. Just had an email pushed under my nose about a local company offering leased line connections under this scheme instead of going with the LA when they take over supply of broadband from YHGfL in April. They claim the content? Any views as dont know enough about it to comment at the moment and dont know what we will be getting from the LA.

[jayemm]

Hi TechSupp.

 

Digital Region is a South Yorkshire thing. It is being setup by the Rotherham, Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley councils and is funded and owned by them.

 

Their aim is to setup a fibre to the cabinet system before BT as South Yorkshire is down the list of BT works. This roll out is well underway and these new cabinets have appeared all over SY Authorities and you will have surely seen some of the roadworks as they lay new fibre. They are using dark fibre too.

 

This new WAN will connect the local authorities together, and be connected to the Internet hence being able to act as an ISP although this is being done by resellers and not directly by Digital Region.

 

We have looked at Digital Region Costs and were given figures of around £9k per year, but when you think we currently pay £22k that is a hefty saving.

 

PM me if you want more information.

 

JM

[jonyboy105]

Hi All,

 

Digital Region Limited is currently engaged with each local aurthority to provide connectivty over the new DRL network once it is live in the respected area. They have already won this contract for Sheffield and Barnsley as far as I am aware. They are providing the connetion only back to the main hubs currently delivered by YHGFL etc. This get very complicated around content protection etc.

 

To provide some clarity on how this is all plugged together, the new network is operated and supported by a company called Thales. There are 4 stakeholders in the network. These are Sheffield Council, Rotherham Council, Doncaster Council and Barnsley Council. They have each invested a large amount of money. The remainder of the money is from goverment and euro funding / yorkshire forward.

 

There network is a wholesale network only and therefore required service provideres (SP's) to provide content, internet etc. There are currenelty only 4 registered service providers with only 3 of them being able to provide service. They are Ask4 (me), Ripewire, DRBSY and Lyndos. There are a number of resellers, however they are not the actual provider. There is a responable difference between each operators network behind the scenes.

 

There are a range of services that can be offered over copper from the local street cabinet. They are upto 40mb.s down and 10 mbps up, 40 down and 2 up, 10 up and 10 down and 15 up and 15 down. There are also option for 100mbs or 1gbs fibre connection.

 

As this is a forum, I am trying to be completly imparcial even though we are provider. My main purpose is to make sure that the correct information is sent out to potential customers and end users. There has been a lot of bad press around DRL and miss in information sent out. All I am staying therefore, is please speak to the correct parties. If you want to speak to someone actaully at Digital Region Limited, please look at thre website for contact information and ask to speak to Richard Jepson.

 

If you would like to speak to me, I am more than happy to talk. If you pm me, I can arrange with you.