Rutland villagers fund their own high-speed broadband

Eleven people have funded high-speed broadband connections for their three tiny villages in Rutland, costing them £37,000.

The villagers, who previously received broadband speeds that averaged just 0.5Mbps, now have access to downstream connections of up to 40Mbps via a network installed by local ISP Rutland Telecom. The connection was launched on Wednesday.

Half of the residents of the three villages — Lyddington, Stoke Dry and Thorpe-by-Water — are connected, and half of those have signed up to receive and pay for the high-speed services.

The high speeds have been achieved by installing a cabinet containing VDSL2 equipment next to BT's passive street cabinet in Lyddington, according to Rutland Telecom. The company paid BT to run fibre to its cabinet from the nearest local exchange two miles away, supporting the higher speeds.

"What surprised us was that a small company could do it," David Lewis, managing director of Rutland Telecom, told ZDNet UK. "There was no sign the big operators would come near this exchange. We thought, 'let's go ahead and do it'."

Villagers are being offered voice and broadband for £30 per month. Rutland Telecom intends to add Sky TV to the package later in the year.

The villagers who funded the network — who it is understood underwrote the clear majority of the cost — will receive their investment back in full after three years, along with 10 percent interest per annum, Rutland Telecom said.

However, the installation was far from straightforward. Plans were initially made in early 2007. "There were some stallings and delays," said Lewis, referring to the connection of his cabinet to the telephone exchange by BT.

Rutland Telecom now plans to collect the subscription revenues and encourage more users to sign up.

Similar community broadband projects have become increasingly common for villages that are unlikely to be served by the large telecoms operators such as BT and Virgin Media. One of the most high-profile cases is that of the Cumbrian village of Alston, where 100Mbps fibre to the home is being pioneered by a local entrepreneur.

Community broadband roll-outs could become more common as a result of the shelving by the Labour Party of its 50 pence phone levy that would have financed bringing high-speed broadband to rural areas. Charles Trotman, head of rural business development for the Country Land and Business Association, who launched the Rutland project on Wednesday described the levy as a "casualty of the General Election." He said in a statement that his organisation would lobby the incoming government to ensure rural areas did not miss out on high-speed broadband connections.

Rutland Telecom has started working on a similar project for a remote village near Wrexham in Wales, and promises further roll-outs in areas which currently have a poor broadband service.