BROADBAND FINALLY GETS THERE

Published by Jon Land for allpay Limited in Bill Payments

The launch of a new system to deliver broadband to the most rural part of England will be attended by two of the MPs, a Bishop and the local Mayor. They will be among people from all over the area when allpay launch their new scheme which will use church towers to deliver wireless broadband to an area which still has pockets of dial-up access to the web

The event is in the historic Great Hall part of The Bishop’s Palace in Hereford. Jesse Norman, MP for South Herefordshire, has championed better broadband for rural areas since being elected to parliament at the last election. He will be joined by the MP for North Herefordshire, Bill Wiggin and the mayor of the city Anna Toon. The Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis, will be welcoming people from Churches all over Herefordshire and South Shropshire, keen to find out how they can get involved.

The event, which starts at 10am is being led by allpay, a local company who have developed the technology that will ensure a better broadband service than currently available and well in advance of government promises to deliver fast speed broadband to places like Herefordshire by 2015. The vicar of the trial parish church will also be in the audience. Tony Killeen, managing director of the company will be answering questions about the scheme.

Those present will hear how the scheme works, what it will mean to churches and how they can get involved. The equipment being used will be on show for parishioners to look. The planned roll out has been made simpler by the agreement of a model licence which will fast track planning applications through the special church planning procedures, an historic first for the Diocese, and already being examined in other parts of the country. It is the first time church towers have been used for this purpose.

The Chancellor of the Diocese of Hereford has agreed a faculty giving legal permission for one historic church in the Diocese (which has been used for trial purposes) to host Broadband equipment for a local company called allpay(sic), based in Herefordshire. They are keen to unite modern technology with our buildings that have been serving local communities for a thousand years. The licence agreed can now be used as a model for other churches,” said Anni Holden, spokesperson for the Diocese.

Press Release Provided by the Diocese of Hereford