'Super-connected city' competition opens

The government has named 10 cities eligible to compete for a share of £100m urban broadband funding.

The eligible cities are: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport announced on Tuesday.

The funding is designed to contribute to broadband infrastructure that will allow people to access the internet at speeds of 80-100 Mbps.

"Transforming communities into super-connected cities will enable them to compete with the world's top digital cities," culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. "It will help them attract new jobs and new investment and make the UK a place where digital businesses look to come."

Proposals should include high-speed mobile connectivity, according to the statement.

The government will select six cities to join UK capitals Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and London in receiving funding.

The four capitals will automatically get money, and the amount will be dependent on funding bids. Bidding cities will be expected to pick up the tab for non-capital expenditure such as providing for a local project team. Bids close on 13 February 2012.

Broadband access in the UK is patchy, with large parts of the four countries below even 2Mbps.