NICVA gets Superconnected

Early last year Belfast City Council were allocated £13.7m from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Urban Broadband fund, along with contributing £3m themselves and further funding from European Regional Development Fund and private sector totalling over £17 million.

Some of this funding will be spent on improving the public access wifi across the city and in public buildings, but the majority will be towards the SuperConnected Voucher scheme.

Eligible charities and SME’s (Small to Medium Enterprises) are able to apply for grants of up to £3000 (exclusive of vat) towards the installation cost of high speed broadband (Minimum 30Mb speeds). The aim of this project is to improve the communication ability of those with slow or incompatible broadband services and open up alternatives which may have otherwise incurred a large installation fee, thus improving business growth through competitiveness in international markets and reducing costs with more efficient working.

NICVA were able to open up a faster, more scalable and resilient connection to help improve connection to our web services, conference streaming capabilities and online meeting for remote organisations. In conjunction with Atlas Communications we were able to install a new 30Mb dedicated connection along with a complimentary 70Mb wireless connection which will also assist our offering of free wifi to visitors to our building.
The application process is straightforward and there are a list of eligible providers to choose from here: https://www.connectionvouchers.co.uk/category/belfast/

Eligibility:

• Do you have less than 250 employees / volunteers?
• Do you have less than €50m turnover (£39.5m)?
• Do you have less than €43m balance sheet (£34m)?
• Is your premises located in the current or future Belfast City Council Boundary?
• Currently have a poor / inadequate internet connection?

For more detail on the connection voucher scheme and terms and conditions click here:
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/business/investinginbelfast/superconnected-belfast/superconnected-vouchersscheme.aspx

or contact: [email protected]