Businesses across rural England set for connectivity boost with £5bn broadband upgrade

Over two million homes and businesses across England are set to gain access to faster broadband speeds as part of a multi-billion pound plan.

The government’s Project Gigabit fund will see £5bn spent on levelling up broadband services throughout rural areas across the country.

New details published today reveal up to 1,850,000 additional premises across 26 English counties will get access to gigabit speed internet of 1,000 megabits per second - enough to download a HD movie in less than 30 seconds.

In addition, today it is also being confirmed that the Scottish and Welsh governments and 15 English councils have made at least an extra £26m available in top-ups to the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden commented: “Project Gigabit is our national mission to level up rural areas by giving them the fastest internet speeds on the market.

“Millions more rural homes and businesses will now be lifted out of the digital slow lane thanks to our mammoth £5bn investment and one the quickest rollouts in Europe.

“This broadband revolution will create jobs, power up businesses and allow everyone to access vital services at lightning fast speed, helping us build back better from the pandemic.”