Broadband connectivity for rural areas in the UK and abroad

Fundamental research carried out by Lancaster University across the last 20 years has transformed the lives of thousands of rural families and businesses by enabling them to create their own world-class digital infrastructure that connects hard-to-reach properties with a hyper-fast broadband network. Owned and operated by a multi-million-pound community-driven enterprise, the network has brought about economic, social, educational and health benefits to local businesses, residents and communities that would otherwise have been isolated by the digital divide.

Research led by Professor Nicholas Race of Lancaster University revealed the latent power and potential of rural communities to take ownership of their digital infrastructure and was the first step towards the creation and development of B4RN. B4RN was founded in 2013 by members of the rural community as a registered non-profit community benefit society.

From its origins in the small village of Wray, Lancashire, B4RN has:

• Connected over 8,200 hard-to-reach properties in more than 90 communities; using 5,000,000 metres of fibre cable across 3,500 square kilometres of sparsely populated land in the rural North West of England.
• Received a visit from HRH The Prince of Wales following their 1,000th property connection in 2015, and subsequently both directors received MBEs in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
• Become a multi-million-pound community enterprise, comprising 2,300 shareholders with a net income of £2million in 2019/20.
• Inspired and informed similar models nationally and internationally.
• Been cited in a 2018 UK Government national infrastructure review (part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy) as an example of a “new and innovative business model”.
• Featured in the European Commission’s 2020 Broadband Handbook, part of the Action Plan to bring better broadband to rural areas of the EU.