Community Broadband Takes Top Prize - SustainIT Wireless Awards

South Witham Broadband has scooped the 2004 Vodafone Wireless e-Well Being Award at the SustainIT awards ceremony, held in The Gherkin on 14th March.

(PRWEB) March 17, 2005 -- The Community Broadband Network is delighted to announce that South Witham Broadband has scooped the 2004 Vodafone Wireless e-Well Being Award at the SustainIT awards ceremony, held in The Gherkin on 14th March.

South Witham Broadband also recently won the CANdo Best Network award, sponsored by the Access to Broadband Campaign, and is often cited as one of the best examples of community broadband in the UK.

SWBB began life in 2003 when Tom Anderson put an ad in his local paper to see if others wanted to get involved in bringing true broadband to a rural area where the quality of phone lines is insufficient to supply ADSL to all.

A core group of 6 volunteers now run a wireless mesh broadband network across 4 villages and this has networked the community in more ways than one, introducing villagers to neighbours they might not have met otherwise, setting up training courses, putting CCTV into the local village hall, and even helping the Scouts achieve their IT badges. The latest development on the network is the introduction of VoIP, allowing local people to make free and low cost voice calls over the internet.

Helen Anderson, funding officer of SWBB, said, It has been quite a year for SWBB. We have hosted the CAN Colloquium, won several awards including the SustainIT Vodafone award, and our network continues to grow and expand thanks to the support of local organisations and our members."

South Witham Broadband is a self-financing, sustainable network, using grants for expansion and experimentation rather than survival. The core team also offer mentor skills to the Community Broadband Network, and are active in helping others replicate the best practice and lessons learnt from Lincolnshire.

We are extremely proud that community broadband is now being recognised at the very highest levels," said Malcolm Corbett, Director of CBN and hope that this trend continues over the coming months as the true value of community broadband becomes more widely realised and supported across the UK."

The Community Broadband Network (CBN) recently launched a survey of community broadband networks which shows around 300 such networks in 550 places in the UK. An event held at the DTI on 2nd March included lively discussion of community broadband, presentations by CBN members about the work of their networks, and a high level digital divide debate. On the panel were Antony Walker (CEO of the Broadband Stakeholder Group), Nigel Heriz-Smith of the DTI, Brian Condon (CEO of the Access to Broadband Campaign), Richard Lander of Locust World, and Rick Smith of Newham.net. More details, including the report, can be found on www.broadband-uk.coop.

Notes for editors
Contact details
Helen Anderson -- SWBB
01572 768382
Helen-anderson@southwitham.com
http://www.wireless.southwitham.net

Malcolm Corbett, Director -- CBN
m.corbett@broadband-uk.coop
0845 456 2466

Lindsey Annison --Membership Development & PR, CBN
l.annison@webpr.co.uk
07967 670759

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