Solihull council flat residents get free broadband

23 May 2008 10:08 GMT / By Katie Scott

Council flat residents in Solihull, the West Midlands, are to get free or subsidised broadband.

Networking company CI-Net has teamed up with Solihull Community Housing (SCH) to deliver wireless broadband connections to a possible 11,000 council homes.

A base station, which is located 5 miles away in Yardley, will send the broadband signal to rooftop receivers, which will then send the connectivity through electricity cabling to each flat.

All of the tenants who qualify to be part of the scheme will be given connector units, which can be plugged into any three-point socket.

The council hopes that the scheme will bridge the digital divid but also may draw businesses into "a part of north Solihull designated a deprived area".

The first building will be hooked up next month and then the residents surveyed to see whether it is worth rolling out the scheme to other areas of the city.

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Software, Online, Broadband, ISPs