UK provider to the public sector, MLL Telecom has been awarded a 10-year managed network services contract valued in excess of £20m by the South East Grid.
This follows a competitive tender initiated by East Sussex County Council at the end of last year.
MLL’s contract is part of a new 15-year framework agreement managed by East Sussex County Council which replaces the existing Link Consortium this year and is designed to streamline the procurement of a wide range of full fibre managed network services. Initially these will be available to more than 500 sites - including schools - across the region from Brighton and Hove City Council, to Lewes, Wealden and Rother District Councils, Eastbourne and Hastings Borough Councils, and East Sussex Fire and Rescue. Plans are also underway to extend the framework to include health services.
In addition, councils and any public sector organisations in other areas of southeast England including Essex, Kent, Hampshire and Surrey, will be eligible to procure the same range of Wide Area Network services. These are to include high-speed PSN/HSCN access, managed wifi, firewall and content filtering. Following MLL’s recommendation the South East Grid will also take advantage of SDWAN services, managed by MLL, to accommodate the growing requirements for this rapidly emerging technology in the coming years.
From December, MLL will take on and manage the existing network infrastructure from the incumbent provider before commencing its transformation to full fibre. This will be carried out in tandem with MLL’s fibre infrastructure partners, CityFibre and Openreach, with completion expected by early 2023.
Commented Matt Scott, CDIO at East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Councils, and Chair of the South East Grid Strategic Steering Group: ‘MLL’s technology expertise and comprehensive network management services are well aligned to our requirements to move to Full Fibre, providing stakeholders across our region and further afield with high-speed access. This infrastructure will be a vital part of our technology foundations and will underpin the delivery of public services in the digital era.’
Stuart Wallis chief commercial officer, MLL Telecom, added: ‘MLL Telecom is very pleased to be working in partnership with the South East Grid to deliver a significant regional fibre investment, bringing benefit across the region along with full fibre to over 500 authority sites. Every partner within the South East Grid benefits from access to the latest technology including SD-WAN, enabling a significant refresh and step change across the network as part of MLL’s managed service.’