The decision relates to recommendations in the cabinet member report of 18 November 2021 to provide a short term broadband solution for 2,324 premises descoped by Gigaclear that were as part of Stage 3 Lot 2-3c Contract.

Satellite And Terrestrial Works Ltd were identified as the highest scoring and best economic value and therefore the primary supplier. The framework means that should this supplier be unable to fulfil the requirements over time there are two others suppliers who can provide service (Metricell Limited and Posisoft).

The current grant is based on an assumption of initially 600 applications or circa 25% of applicants. The grant is paid to the supplier rather than the resident and funds cannot be supplied retrospectively. The grant will be open to households until January 2023.

The decision is also to extend coverage to other premises in Herefordshire that have a combination of:
• Less than 30Mbps (download) broadband
• Not covered by any public intervention or commercial investment plans
• Have applied to the Fastershire Community Grant and had no success in attracting bids for their areas for wired solutions due to cost; or initially assessed as number of premises being too small for consideration of community grant.