Almost 600,000 more rural UK homes and businesses are to be given access to better broadband through a government-backed scheme.

The new connections targeted are in hard-to-reach locations across Cheshire, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Essex, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, the East Riding and North Yorkshire.

The development is part of the government's ongoing £5 billion Project Gigabit, which aims to deliver gigabit-capable (1,000 megabits per second) broadband across the UK.

Most of the new connections will be delivered through full fibre broadband cables going directly into homes and businesses, avoiding the existing and slower copper infrastructure.

In Wales, up to 235,000 hard-to-reach premises have been confirmed as “in-scope” for an upgrade through Project Gigabit. And in Northern Ireland, the UK government has invested £150 million through Project Stratum to boost speeds.

The specific locations to benefit in the areas announced will be named when the contracts to deliver the connections are out to tender.

The projects will help the government deliver its target for “at least” 85 per cent of the UK to have access to a gigabit-capable connection by 2025. The government says the UK has already hit 57 per cent gigabit coverage, up from less than 6 per cent in 2019.

Share Story: