Upgrades Available for Some Rural Areas

UK Government’s rural gigabit voucher scheme to deliver broadband upgrade to properties with slow or without broadband service.

06:19 13 February 2020

Residents and businesses in rural areas without access to fast and reliable broadband service may qualify for the UK Government’s broadband upgrade scheme. Funding is available for premises that are currently not covered by commercial fixed and mobile network providers and for those who wish to get faster broadband speeds.

 

Two potential funding that can be explored are the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and rural gigabit voucher scheme. USO is for properties without access to broadband service that offers at least 10Mbps. Individual homes and businesses can contact BT to find out if they are eligible. More information about USO can be found on https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/broadband-uso-need-to-know.

 

The rural gigabit voucher scheme, on the other hand, is for groups of at least two residential properties that are only able to access download speeds of less than 100Mbps on a not gigabit-capable infrastructure. Available vouchers are worth £1,500 per residence and £3,500 for SME. Under the scheme, recipients are required to take up service delivered on a gigabit-capable infrastructure with a minimum of 30Mbps download speed or at least double their current speed. Parties interested in this scheme are encouraged to get more information through this link: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/for-residents/suppliers/