Lincolnshire residents are being urged to show their support for a £20 million campaign to bring fibre optic broadband to as many as nine in ten homes across the area.

The county council is set to look over a report giving an update on plans to secure state aid from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) next Thursday (June 30th 2011), before lodging an application for funding on July 8th.

According to This Is Lincolnshire, if the local authority's bid proves successful, it will combine the money with European investment to deploy fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband to around 85 to 90 per cent of homes.

Once installed, householders who sign up to receive the high-speed service will be able to take advantage of maximum download capabilities of 40Mbps - more than six times above the average UK-wide figure of 6.2Mbps, recorded by Ofcom last November and December.

Justin Brown, head of enterprise at Lincolnshire County Council, revealed the body is looking to secure around £20 million of the £530 million BDUK has available to help support the rollout of next-generation broadband.

A final decision on which communities will be included in the FTTC deployment will be taken after internet service providers are invited to apply for the contract to carry out the work.

Community-led solutions will be utilised to improve connections in locations that do not benefit from the initial rollout, Mr Brown explained.

In order to give the bid a helping hand, business leaders and consumers in the area are being encouraged to register their backing on the OnLincolnshire website.

"Residents can greatly improve our chances of success by showing their support," Mr Brown remarked.

"We want the county to have first-class broadband. This isn't a luxury - it's vital to the growth of businesses, to the ability of local residents to access services and to young people so they can download learning materials." 

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