Plans are being made to connect around 3,000 public sector locations in South West Wales to a fibre broadband infrastructure.
Carmarthenshire County Council has launched a procurement valued at £16 million on behalf of the Swansea Bay City Deal partnership as part of its £55 million Digital Infrastructure Programme.
It has published a prior information notice (PIN), saying it wants to provide a gigabit capable infrastructure that can future proof network connectivity requirements for the region for the next 20-30 years, supported by a series of procurements.
Aside from providing connectivity for the public sector sites, the infrastructure will be required to support dark fibre connectivity, with the supplier designing, building and operating infrastructure services for the – unstated so far – duration of the contract
Range of services
The PIN states: “The programme intends to procure infrastructure services that will support a wide range of overlay network services, including through the existing Public Sector Broadband Aggregation programme (PSBA) and other network services arrangements.
“Although the procurement will focus primarily on infrastructure services, it may also procure options for internet broadband connectivity to ensure best value use of the infrastructure.”
The Swansea Bay City Deal has organised an online supplier engagement event to take place on 23 August.
Other members of the partnership include Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea Councils, Swansea University, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea Bay University Health Board and Hywel Dda University Health Board.
