Profile Of Digital Region
Digital Region Ltd. (DRL) represents one of the largest public sector-led open broadband infrastructure initiatives in the world.
It will cover the city, towns and villages of Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham and serve a population of over 1.3million citizens, 546,000 homes and 40,000 businesses. This is a major opportunity to transform South Yorkshire and achieve a step change that will positively impact on the entire sub-region-business, residents and public sector organisations.
DRL is wholly owned by Yorkshire Forward, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Sheffield City Council.
Thales UK has been appointed to deliver, manage and operate the state of the art fibre-optic cable infrastructure on behalf of DRL. Thales UK leads a consortium that includes Alcatel-lucent and KCOM Group.
The DRL, infrastructure network will be a wholesale, carrier-class network that enables IP-based services to be provided to citizens, businesses and the public sector throughout South Yorkshire. Key to the ambition of the project is a recognition that the DRL, infrastructure will be able to meet the needs of Internet Service Providers in a way that existing infrastructure is unable to do at present.
DRL, offers South Yorkshire the opportunity to position itself within a global marketplace, giving service providers a unique opportunity to provide a next generation broadband infrastructure that will closely be watched by global players in the communications sector and beyond.
