A successful market test pilot project for the UK Government
Call Flow has successfully delivered a total £2.5m public contracts to build high coverage open access superfast networks in Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent and East Sussex to areas that the BT Programme will not reach. One of these is a Market Test Pilot project for Government that was completed in 2016.
“…the hybrid approach provides a number of options for delivering superfast in the last mile. This has allowed Call Flow to drive down the cost of maximum coverage solutions in hard to reach areas….”
Emerging findings from the BDUK Market Test Pilots, DCMS, February 2016.
Call Flow delivered a successful pilot £1.3m project for Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), the group within the Department for Culture Media and Sport that is responsible for delivering superfast broadband and better mobile connectivity to the nation.
The project in Hampshire demonstrated how the Call Flow hybrid delivery model can achieve very high coverage of whole rural exchange areas that are sub-superfast. Call Flow deployed established access technologies – FTTC (64% of the premises), FTTP (20%) and FWA (16%) – and combined them to create successful solutions specific to the local challenges. Taking advantage of the strengths of each technology proved an effective method to reach dispersed rural areas.
The project tested the value of different build options in reducing the cost of deploying fibre and wireless superfast networks through the use of existing infrastructure and different types of new network build.
Uptake is stronger than predicted and the solution delivered superfast speeds consistently across the different access technologies that it deployed.
BDUK concluded that the technical solution and commercial model can be effective and sustainable in delivering superfast broadband solutions to sub-superfast premises on a larger scale. BDUK also recognised that Call Flow applied innovations in the build approach that can deliver increased value for money in deployment and operations.