East Sussex County Council tenders for next-generation broadband infrastructure

Contract could be worth up to £100m

East Sussex County Council is looking to deploy a next-generation broadband infrastructure across East Sussex as well as Brighton and Hove in a contract that could be worth up to £100m.

The deployment will fall in line with chancellor George Osborne's aim for the UK to create the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015.

The online tender said the broadband infrastructure will "enable sustainable access for at least 90 per cent of all eligible premises and faster downstream connectivity of at least 2Mbit/s for all eligible premises, by no later than 2015".

The length of the contract has not been disclosed but the value is given as between £50m and £100m. This includes a contribution of £10.64m from government broadband policy body Broadband Delivery UK and £15m from East Sussex County Council.

The tender said other funding sources may also be accessed, and it is expected that there will be significant private sector investment from the supplier.

In November last year, East Sussex County Council issued a £100m wide-area network tender for a contract that could last up to 10 years.