Government’s UK Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme Ends Today

As predicted the UK Government’s (DCMS) £68.5m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), which offered up to £2,500 to help businesses and some homes gain access to a “gigabit-capable” ISP connection, will today close to new applications at 1pm after having exhausted all of its remaining funds.

The demand-led GBVS was first launched in March 2018 as part of the wider Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme (here) and was intended to run until either 31st March 2021 or its money ran out. Under this scheme applicants were offered up to £2,500 to help businesses and homes gain access to a 1Gbps capable broadband connection (homes can only get £500 and up to 10 homes must participate for every 1 SME).

Beneficiaries to the scheme were asked to agree to a 12-month contract with their chosen ISP as part of the scheme’s terms and conditions for speeds that were at least double what they could get before, provided they met the minimum threshold of 100Mbps (Megabits per second).

Much like previous broadband voucher schemes, the GBVS turned out to be hugely popular and has exhausted its budget sooner than expected. As a result gigabit-capable broadband connections have been provided to a total of 18,846 small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and 5,281 homes around them – from the Shetland Islands to the Isle of Wight; from County Fermanagh to Norfolk.

We should point out that the issued vouchers have a validity of 12 months, so whilst the scheme is closed to new applications, connections from vouchers that have been issued but not yet connected, and their associated payments when the connection is live, will continue for a further 12 months. As a result final numbers for the scheme will not be available until after Spring 2021.

The news will probably come as a blow to some ISPs that have made good use of the GBVS, although it should be noted that the Government have already launched a successor scheme (of sorts) in the form of their £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme. As the name might suggest, the RGC concentrates on rural areas by offering up to £3,500 for small businesses and up to £1,500 for residents.

The greater value of the RGC vouchers is intended to reflect the higher cost of deployment in rural areas. Crucially the RGC scheme does NOT include a business requirement like GBVS (i.e. homes can easily get a voucher), but like GBVS it is still possible to aggregate the vouchers in order to help tackle larger deployments.

The closure of the GBVS has also had an impact on the Welsh Government’s linked voucher scheme (here), which effectively topped-up the GBVS vouchers with additional funding (i.e. up to £5,500 for SMEs and £800 for homes) and so can no longer proceed. However the WG are currently in talks to see if they can extend this top-up approach via the RGC.

Lee Waters, Welsh Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, said:

“A partnership between the Welsh and UK Governments has seen businesses and residents in Wales being eligible for additional funding from the Welsh Government towards the installation costs of a gigabit-capable broadband connection through a UK scheme. The UK Government’s Gigabit Voucher Scheme is now in the process of closing. It is not possible to top-up a scheme that the UK Government has elected to close.

We understand that the UK Government’s parallel Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme includes a voucher mechanism similar to the retiring Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme mechanism. We are currently in discussion with the UK Government about continuing our top-up funding approach through this scheme instead.

It is our intention that a Wales specific top-up that raises the default ceiling of vouchers offered by the UK Government through that programme is available to ensure that any additional cost of deploying infrastructure in Wales are not a barrier. As such, an announcement is yet to be made.”

The general move toward a more rural focus is also designed to support the UK Government’s separate £5bn programme, which once ready (a framework is still being designed but the first builds seem unlikely to start until late 2021) will fuel their ambition for deploying “gigabit-capable” broadband networks to cover every home by the end of 2025 (here); this will also work to tackle the final 20% of hardest to reach premises.

So far both the GBVS and RGC combined have helped to connect a total of 24,127 premises to a gigabit-capable service, with a further 16,087 already in the pipeline. The RGC, which is also due to run until March 2021, was only launched a year ago and as such it still has plenty of funding left to be consumed. Since its launch in May 2019, the RGC has connected or issued vouchers worth over £16.3M.

Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS)
https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk