Broadband Britain success story: Cambridge Ring North-East

Several villages in Cambridgeshire are working together to establish their own broadband connectivity because they will not be served by telecoms providers.

The Cambridge Ring North East (Carnet) project was started by local residents in 1998 when they realised there were no prospect of either BT or cable companies providing broadband in the foreseeable future.

'The telcos wouldn't serve us so we decided to do it ourselves,' said Laurie van Someren, one of Carnet's founders.

The initial project focused on the village of Bottisham, six miles from Cambridge. With infrastructure in place and the first users online in Bottisham, nearby Lode was connected. A third local village will go live this week and a fourth is planned within the next three months.

Supplier Invisible Networks is working with Carnet, a not-for-profit organisation, and is bearing the capital cost of renting a leased line from Cambridge to the Bottisham telephone exchange and providing wireless antennae and receivers to connect local homes and businesses.

There are currently 46 users in Bottisham and Lode paying around £30 per month. Carnet's target is for 25 per cent penetration within three years, says van Someren.

'We have the early adopters signed up and we hope in the medium term it will snowball by word of mouth.

'The bottom-up approach appeals to our users because this is not something being imposed from above but it is originating in the community,' he said.

With the connection of Stow-cum-Quy expected before the summer, Carnet plans to put a camera on the nearby A14 junction to monitor traffic conditions and help residents plan their routes to work.

'That will probably be first application because it has significant PR value - it's an example that always gets smile of recognition from people.

'Others possibilities are less exciting but just as useful - like hard disk back-ups on central server for community,' said van Someren.