Digital Infrastructure Roadshow – The Rural Masterclass on 25 May 2016

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) has approached Shropshire Council about holding one of its roadshow events at Shirehall in Shrewsbury. These events are designed to inform and educate local government about the work of the independent sector and what it can offer to local authorities and stakeholder groups seeking value-for-money solutions in digital infrastructure.

Steve Charmley, Deputy Leader of Shropshire Council with responsibility for broadband and host of the event, said:

“As a rural county, Shropshire Council, is more than happy to provide a venue for this event, which is being organised and run by INCA, indeed we did something similar in July last year. This event is not specifically about Shropshire and is expected to be of interest to local government officers and stakeholder groups from across the country.
“I recently announced that Shropshire Council intends to carry out an open market review (OMR) of broadband provision in the early summer. An OMR is a formal precursor to the planned procurement of superfast broadband coverage, which I’m sure will be of interest to many of the INCA members at the workshop”.

The roadshow will showcase alternative providers delivering superfast and ultrafast broadband in communities around the country. Policy makers increasingly recognise the importance of these ‘alternative networks’ working alongside BT to deliver new, high capacity digital infrastructure.

Working together with Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), the roadshow will feature case studies of how FTTP (fibre to the premises), wireless and satellite networks are being deployed, delivering fantastic services, often in very hard to reach communities.

The INCA Roadshows are free to attend for local government officers. If you are a local government officer and would like to attend this event, but don’t have a discount code, please contact Gill Williams at INCA via email on gill.williams@inca.coop.

To see a copy of the draft agenda, go to: http://www.inca.coop/sites/default/files/civicrm/persist/contribute/files/INCA-Roadshow-Shropshire-Draft-03052016.pdf