Liberty Broadband - formerly known as Tele2 (UK) - has secured new funding following its severance from parent Millicom International Cellular (MIC) earlier this year.

A group of investors under the name of Birmingham Online has provided new funding to support the wireless broadband outfit, giving the company renewed security after a difficult couple of months.

Now it's looking to increase its customer base and develop new areas for its business to grow.

In the next few weeks the company is expected to launch a new community broadband initiative in which groups can set up their own broadband network in areas currently not served by xDSL or cable services.

Liberty Broadband would build the wireless network, supply and install the equipment and train people to run it.

The company claims such a service would be of interest to business parks currently out of reach of conventional broadband technologies, with firms coming together to fund the network.

Regional authorities and some local ISPs keen to roll-out broadband in rural areas, for example, are also likely to be interested.

The cost of such a service would be more than xDSL or cable services with rough estimates suggesting that it would cost 100 users around £50 a month for the wireless broadband.

However, with large parts of the country currently unable to get xDSL or cable then any alternative has to be good news for punters. ®