Update – Press Release 20-07-2017
NSB has issued the following press release – NSB Press release 20 July 2017
Business Blether on Cuillin FM –
We were invited on to the Cuillin FM Business Blether show on Thursday 3rd of November – You can listen to the show below.
Supplier Day – Beginning of Formal Procurement Process
North Skye Broadband is delighted to be presenting to an arranged suppliers event which is being facilitated by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) and the Scottish Government. This event has been deemed as the beginning of the formal procurement process for our project by CBS. The past few months have been exceptionally frustrating in terms of the enforced delays with regard to beginning the formal procurement process all of which have been out with the control of North Skye Broadband.
The supplier day is for all projects which will shortly be going out to procurement. The supply market in the broadband sector is relatively small and HIE is familiar with the need to make procurement processes as easy as possible for suppliers who often comment that getting involved in public procurement can be very time consuming. Therefore, a judgement was made that suppliers would be highly unlikely to attend multiple information days. To this end, and to expedite the procurement process, a one-day event is being held on the 28th September in Glasgow, during which all of the suppliers in the HIE directory and anyone that is registered on the Public Contract Scotland (PCS) website can come along and hear about CBS as well as the North Skye Broadband project which is now nearing procurement.
The day will consist of outline presentations on all of the projects nearing procurement as well as CBS to all suppliers. Suppliers will then have an opportunity to have 1:1 sessions with CBS supported by specialist advisers Atkins Farrpoint. The event is a very formal stage in the procurement process and as such, it is vitally important that all suppliers are given equitable access to information on this day to avoid future challenges.
Once the procurement process is fully underway, North Skye Broadband will be able to assess bids and input as procurement progresses.
The 1:1 sessions are to discuss Procurement (Scotland) and State Aid regulations and as such, will be held between CBS and Suppliers. No detailed discussions of individual projects will take place at these events.
North Skye Broadband will be providing the suppliers with a detailed presentation regarding our project with the key aim of ensuring the market is aware of our High Level Requirement for our project.
BBC News Line Interview – SRA Broadband Report 08-09-2016
Updated Project Time Table as agreed with CBS 07-06-2016
HIE / CBS – North Skye Public Consultation Published
Today 06-06-2016 has seen the formal European Commission approved publication of the HIE/CBS Skye CBS State Aid Public Consultation June 2016. This consultation will run for 1 month (4 weeks) after which a report will be drafted and submitted to BDUK. After the report has been formally submitted to and approved by BDUK (a 2 week process) North Skye Broadband will be able to proceed to the Invitation To Tender (ITT) stage of the procurement for our phase 1 network. All being well that could be 6 weeks to-day.
Our aim is to publish an easy to digest list of milestones as soon as possible which will cover the next steps as our project progresses. We are delighted to now be the leading community broadband project in Scotland in terms of progress in following the new approved state aid procurement process. Thanks for all the support to date we look forward to providing more information in the very near future….
Phase 1 Community Engagement Report
North Skye Broadband is pleased to publish the Phase 1 Community Engagement Report. A draft report had been issued via email to all those who provided their correct email address when they registered an interest at the public meetings or on the website. Also provided are a list of additional questions and answers from the events that may not be already available on our Frequently Asked Question page
The report can be accessed here – Phase 1 Community Engagement Report 2016
The list of Q&A can be accessed here – Community Engagement Questions-April-16
Some of the hard copy registration forms available at the meetings appeared to have only been completed on one side, if you think you may have completed only one side (contact details) please feel free to fill out an online form via our register an interest page, as we would like to keep in touch with you if you have registered an interest.
We are currently in the planning stages for our Phase 2 community engagement and look forward to coming back to our communities in the very near future.
Thanks again for everyone who helped along the way and came along to the meetings we really appreciate the ongoing support and hope you will continue to pass on details of the project to those who are interested in super-fast, reliable, local, broadband.
Phase 1 Project Update
As of 4pm on the 14th March North Skye Broadband was advised by HIE Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) that as a result of recent analysis by BT they are now in a position to clarify and confirm, with certainty, the post code areas in our phase 1 project footprint. These areas are the Glendale, Waternish and Struan exchange areas. We have updated our postcode map which now shows these areas in purple.
CBS can only support projects which operate where the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) project does not plan to deliver a fibre presence. BT, as the supplier to this contract, is currently investigating ways of extending its coverage. Although we have not yet been made aware of exactly where BT will go we know that 100% of the premises will still not be reached and the areas of Glendale, Waternish and Struan will definitely not be reached.
As the exact coverage of DSSB becomes clear any areas (post codes, or partial post codes) not covered can be added to the North Skye Broadband project area and CBS will continue to provide support to facilitate connection of these additional areas to the North Skye Broadband network.
We are keen to accept registration of interest from all areas seeking to benefit from our community led project (even if you are currently outside our initial project area) and we look forward to coming to your communities over the coming weeks to discuss our project.
Kindest regards,
North Skye Broadband
Phase 1 Community Engagement Notice
February 2016 Update
24 February 2016
January 2016 Update
04 January 2016
North Skye Broadband Project State Aid Public Consultation
22 December 2015
North Skye Broadband would like you to view our state aid consultation document which has been published to-day via Community Broadband Scotland.
As you will note from the full postcode list include in the document the areas now included are far greater than the original map we posted. The document also details our expected project timescales. Everyone at North Skye Broadband would like to send best wishes to all of you over the festive period and we hope you all have a fantastic 2016. We look forward to making huge progress in the coming months! Thanks for all your continued support and all the volunteers, HIE and CBS who have all put in so much work to get to this stage.
October Brief 2015
26 October 2015
