The government has revealed the first areas which will benefit from super fast, gigabit broadband.
Project Gigabit is a £5bn scheme to help “hard to reach” locations get access to better broadband.
Up to 510,000 homes and businesses are part of the first phase, that includes:
- 110k-130k in Durham, South Tyneside and Tees Valley and areas of Northumberland;
- 60k-80k premises in West Cumbria, including the Lake District;
- 30k-80k in North and West Northumberland and East Cumbria – including Brampton and Rothbury
Contracts for these areas will go to tender in the spring with work getting under way in 2022.
“Project Gigabit is the rocket boost that we need to get lightning-fast broadband to all areas of the country,” stated Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“This broadband revolution will fire up people’s businesses and homes, and the vital public services that we all rely on, so we can continue to level up and build back better from this pandemic.”
The government admitted that the UK has some “very remote places” that may be too expensive to build a gigabit-capable broadband network to, even with “substantial public subsidy.” It estimates that this amounts to less than 100k premises.
“We’re already building Full Fibre broadband to 20 million homes and businesses under our own steam – including in rural and hard-to-reach areas – and we welcome this as a vital next step to connect the toughest parts of the UK,” added Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach.
“We’ll be considering these proposals for the final 20% with interest and we’re keen to support the Government. This is a massive opportunity to level-up the country and boost the bounce-back after the pandemic, so it’s important the process moves quickly and that all operators do their bit.”
