West Sussex UK Boosts Rural Gigabit Broadband Vouchers to £4k
The West Sussex County Council has joined other parts of the UK in helping to top-up the Government’s £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme with some of their own funding, which more than doubles the maximum value of vouchers to help local homes get a “gigabit-capable broadband” service installed.
The RGC normally offers up to £3,500 for small rural businesses and up to £1,500 for homes to help them get a “gigabit-capable” connection (focus upon areas that currently lack good connectivity). But recently a number of areas have agreed to “top up” the RGC with some of their own investment (here and here), which has increased the voucher sizes (i.e. helping to make such connectivity accessible to increasingly remote areas).
The funding boost in West Sussex means that eligible rural premises can now claim up to £4,000 each towards the installation cost of gigabit-capable broadband, when part of a group of premises.
Bob Lanzer, County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, said:
“We are going further and doing more for rural eligible communities who can face increased challenges in receiving broadband infrastructure and coverage. We are pleased to introduce this additional funding at a time when having fast and reliable broadband has never been more important to the health and wellbeing of our communities and the productivity and growth of our economy.”
Matt Warman, UK Digital Infrastructure Minister, said:
“As part of our plans to level up communities across the UK, we’re prioritising bringing the economic and social benefits of gigabit-capable broadband to rural areas.
Even more help is now at hand for rural parts of West Sussex currently suffering with slow speeds. I encourage people and businesses in these areas to check if they’re eligible for a voucher to boost their broadband with these next-generation speeds.”
The deadline to apply for a voucher is still 31st March 2021. For more information and to check eligibility visit the DCMS website at https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk .
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Wales Boosts Rural Gigabit Broadband Vouchers to £7k, but gets a negative headline.
Why not just deliver broadband to the rural areas
Indeed, while these boosts in funding might well help some get connected sooner. If it’s a mindless bespoke extension to their properties it wont help expand the FTTP network in the way it needs to. These will likely be done at the minimum cost to complete with little regard to the long term expansion needs.
Then these will be passed or overbuilt by more government funding to get to those who couldn’t afford or were excluded from the voucher group subsidy.
These builds really need to be planned with a close eye on the future, not expensive dead ends.
Gary.. Indeed, some regional procurements to include all the remaining not spots would seem a better option than the more random outcomes which arise from vouchers.