Over 300,000 rural areas to get broadband boost

The UK government is setting aside up to £800 million in funding to address poor broadband connectivity for 312,400 hardest to reach homes and businesses across all of Great Britain’s regions.

Fixed-line wholesaler Openreach will be delivering on the project, having signed contracts valued at around £280 million to connect around 96,000 homes and businesses.

More conversations are also ongoing with the company to sign further contracts with the government for another 215,800 premises across the UK.

Commenting on the deal signed, CEO of Openreach, Clive Selley, said “Research shows that full fibre provides a host of economic, social and environmental benefits – and I believe we’re the best in the business at delivering it.”

The areas benefitting from this investment are those currently considered ‘struggling to fulfil basic online tasks’ such as streaming and video calling or downloading large files.

This is particularly challenging for rural areas across Scotland and Wales.

These areas are typically considered commercially unviable for telcos to cover and thus government funding is desperately needed to bridge the digital divide.

“Millions across the country still struggle to access basic online services due to poor connectivity, especially in rural regions, so it’s excellent to see the government’s renewed push to roll out improved broadband,” said CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, Elizabeth Anderson

“Connectivity must be viewed as a core part of modern life in the digital age, on a par with essential utilities such as energy, and continued investment such as this project is needed to ensure millions aren’t left digitally excluded. With many essential services increasingly moving online, suitable connectivity is vital for tasks many of us take for granted, such as remote education and online healthcare, so the government and wider society cannot stop until this is addressed.”

It is also worth highlighting here that for the first time a UK government Project Gigabit contract has finally included Wales. This translates to around £170 million to deliver the goals for 70,000 Welsh homes and businesses.

Wales is considered the region in the UK with the lowest percentage for gigabit coverage, yet to date the region had not benefitted from the promised £5 billion investments under Project Gigabit by the previous government.