Wirral Council has committed to investing £12million in its IT infrastructure so as to provide super-fast Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband to businesses throughout the Borough.

This significant investment in the Borough's IT infrastructure will improve the competitiveness of existing Wirral businesses in the international market, as well as being a major attraction to companies wishing to locate to the UK or Europe who are dependent on fast data transmission.

Councillor Jean Stapleton, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning Strategy said:

"High speed internet is becoming an essential business element and this investment is crucial to the future success of our economy. Next Generation Access will enable our businesses to successfully compete and give Wirral a real unique selling point as a potential investment location."

The majority of UK broadband currently lags behind other parts of the world such as Korea, Japan, France, Portugal and Spain because it is supplied through copper cables. A much higher speed of connectivity can be supplied through fibre optic networks and Wirral is proposing to install a 'fibre ring' which will reach its key investment and employment areas and will use Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology so that the fastest service is available to business at all times.

Wirral's fibre ring will be 'open access' to service providers such as Virgin, Sky and BT so as to ensure that Wirral businesses have access to the fastest broadband at the cheapest price.

Cllr Stapleton added:

"This investment is a historic moment for Wirral. The installation of the fast fibre optic network will be phased over the next few years but we anticipate that the first businesses will be benefiting from it within 18 months when they will have a real edge over their competitors."

It is predicted that by the end of 2010 super-fast broadband will still only be available to 7.4% of the UK population. Wirral plans to boost its improved connectivity even more by linking up with Data Centres throughout the world which will mean geographical borders no longer apply as Wirral companies will have truly global coverage.