Surrey goes for 100 per cent super-fast broadband by 2013

Surrey County Council plans to make super-fast broadband available to all of its residents and businesses by 2013, two years ahead of the government's target.

The council has put out a public tender for a county-wide broadband network offering a minimum of 30Mbit/s, with 50 per cent of residents and businesses receiving access to speeds of 100Mbit/s.

"It is anticipated that one in five Surrey homes and businesses will not have access to superfast broadband by 2013, which would disadvantage approximately 200,000 people in Surrey," reads the tender.

"Surrey's public bodies and the county's business and voluntary sectors – working together as the Surrey Strategic Partnership and led by Surrey County Council – are seeking to address this inequity by ensuring that everyone in Surrey has access to super-fast broadband."

If successful, Surrey's rollout will be complete two years ahead of the UK's target for a minimum speed of 2Mbit/s for all UK residents. Surrey refers to the project as a "market intervention exercise", as it believes that "market forces will not deliver broadband infrastructure".

It is expected that the rollout will cost the council between £10m and £40m.

The government pledged £530m last November to ensure that 90 per cent of households in each local authority could access super-fast broadband as part of its Comprehensive Spending Review.

The first wave of the government's funding was agreed in October 2010 for four pilot projects – in North Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Cumbria and the Highlands – to establish a model for broadband provision in rural areas. Each project was allocated between £5m and £10m.

Further projects in Devon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Norfolk were unveiled in May 2011.