Wirral Council in the UK has committed to investing £12 mln i(EUR 13.4 mln) in its IT infrastructure to provide super-fast Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband to businesses throughout the Borough. Wirral is near Liverpool in the northwest of England.

Wirral Council in the UK has committed to investing £12 mln i(EUR 13.4 mln) in its IT infrastructure to provide super-fast Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband to businesses throughout the Borough. Wirral is near Liverpool in the northwest of England.

The investment in the Borough’s IT infrastructure is designed to improve the competitiveness of existing Wirral businesses in the international market, as well as being a major attraction to companies wishing to locate to the UK or Europe who are dependent on fast data transmission.

Deputy Chief Executive for Wirral Council Jim Wilkie announced the plans at the MIPIM property fair in Cannes. 'High speed internet is becoming an essential business element and this investment is crucial to the future success of our economy. Next Generation Access will enable our businesses to successfully compete and give Wirral a real unique selling point as a potential investment location,' he said.

The majority of UK broadband currently lags behind other parts of the world such as Korea, Japan, France, Portugal and Spain because it is supplied through copper cables. A much higher speed of connectivity can be supplied through fibre optic networks and Wirral is proposing to install a ‘fibre ring’ which will reach its key investment and employment areas and will use Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology so that the fastest service is available to business at all times.

Wirral's fibre ring will be ‘open access’ to service providers such as Virgin, Sky and BT so as to ensure that Wirral businesses have access to the fastest broadband at the cheapest price.