Issue - meetings

The purpose of the report is to update the Cabinet Member on the Super Connected Cities Programme and the potential opportunities afforded by the new wifi infrastructure deployed in the City.

(TAKE IN INFORMATION REPORT)

Nick May introduced the report which updated the Cabinet Member on the Super Connected Cities Programme and the potential opportunities offered by the new WiFi infrastructure deployed in the City.

He said that there were three main goals for the Super Connected City programme as follows

·         To support economic growth innovation and enterprise in Portsmouth

·         To enhance the competitiveness of our city

·         To aid digital inclusion

He provided a summary of progress to date and then outlined future plans.

He said that there were opportunities to use the technology to benefit residents, businesses and visitors and there were also opportunities to provide income streams to the Authority.  The Wireless Concession had originally been dropped from the programme because of lack of market demand.  However, things have changed and there is now a surge of interest and the market has picked up.

Information gathered at a workshop in August organized by the University is being used to draft a business case for use in future funding applications.

During discussion the following matters were clarified

·         It was not usual for a supplier to wish to be the sole concession holder

·         A consultant was advising on matters such as ensuring consistency of connectivity and how anything new would fit with the existing My City WiFi

Nick May said that he would bring a further report back to this portfolio on progress and to provide a business case on how to take this forward.

The Cabinet Member thanked Mr May for his report and said he was pleased with progress so far but that there was a need to accelerate progress as the City was not as far advanced as it could be.