newbie2
June 27th, 2012, 09:43 PM
Last week I had the pleasure to meet Chris Conder, a British farmer. She was irritated by her slow Internet connection, much slower than her friends and family in the city. She was told, as I have been, it would cost at least €10,000 to connect to ultra-fast broadband.
But instead of waiting or complaining, she founded “Broadband for the Rural North” (B4RN): a campaign that grew into a company that completely changed my ideas about the broadband market. And together with her neighbors, she started digging. Within days she had the connection from the nearest network to her home, over 1 km away, which big companies had said was economically impossible.
Then she helped others in Lancashire to do the same. All funded by community shares.Now, several years later, B4RN offers internet at 1000 megabits per second for about €40 a month (http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/neelie-kroes/a-farmer-called-chris-ensuring-broadband-for-all/). A speed that makes the Japanese jealous, which barely exists elsewhere in Europe, and 500 times faster than UK government targets! Chris Conder proves ultrafast broadband is economically attractive with huge demand ready to be unlocked, even in the smallest communities. It’s not the investment in ultra-fast broadband that’s a risk: it’s outdated business models.
http://b4rn.org.uk/b4rn-invited-to-present-to-eu-digital-champs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NZnyEGPJv3w#!
:popcorn:
But instead of waiting or complaining, she founded “Broadband for the Rural North” (B4RN): a campaign that grew into a company that completely changed my ideas about the broadband market. And together with her neighbors, she started digging. Within days she had the connection from the nearest network to her home, over 1 km away, which big companies had said was economically impossible.
Then she helped others in Lancashire to do the same. All funded by community shares.Now, several years later, B4RN offers internet at 1000 megabits per second for about €40 a month (http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/neelie-kroes/a-farmer-called-chris-ensuring-broadband-for-all/). A speed that makes the Japanese jealous, which barely exists elsewhere in Europe, and 500 times faster than UK government targets! Chris Conder proves ultrafast broadband is economically attractive with huge demand ready to be unlocked, even in the smallest communities. It’s not the investment in ultra-fast broadband that’s a risk: it’s outdated business models.
http://b4rn.org.uk/b4rn-invited-to-present-to-eu-digital-champs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NZnyEGPJv3w#!
:popcorn: