Say goodbye to slow internet! 312,000 rural homes and businesses across England, Scotland and Wales are set to get ‘lightning fast’ broadband in £800 million overhaul of old infrastructure

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The days of tedious load times and endless buffering may finally be coming to a close.

Across rural areas of England, Wales, and Scotland, 312,000 homes and businesses are set to be upgraded to ‘lightning’ fast broadband, although the timeline for delivery remains uncertain. 

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has announced today that it will invest £800 million to overhaul Britain’s old infrastructure.

An agreement has already been signed with telecoms provider Openreach to bring gigabit-capable broadband to 96,000 homes across the UK.

Deals to cover a further 215,800 premises are currently under negotiation and are expected to be announced within the coming months. 

An agreement has already been signed with telecoms provider Openreach to bring gigabit-capable broadband to 96,000 homes across the UK . Deals to cover a further 215,800 premises are currently under negotiation and are expected to be announced within the coming months

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology has announced a 'renewed push' to install fibre optic cables across rural and underserved areas in the UK (stock image)

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology has announced a ‘renewed push’ to install fibre optic cables across rural and underserved areas in the UK (stock image)

Which areas are set to get gigabit-capable broadband?

The government has already signed agreements with Openreach to provide broadband for:

  • Lancashire
  • North Wiltshire
  • South Gloucestershire
  • West and Mid-Surrey
  • Staffordshire
  • West Berkshire and Hertfordshire
  • West and North Devon
  • North West, Mid and South East Wales

Agreements are also currently under negotiations to bring broadband to:

  • Central and North Scotland
  • North and South West Wales
  • Mid and South Devon
  • East and South Shropshire
  • North Herefordshire
  • North Somerset
  • Essex
  • North East England
  • Worcestershire.

According to DSIT, this announcement is the first step in a ‘renewed push’ to reach full gigabit coverage across the UK by 2030.

The government’s ‘Project Gigabit’ initiative, which was first unveiled in 2020, aims to bring superfast ‘gigabit-capable’ broadband connection to underserved rural areas. 

A ‘gigabit-capable’ connection is one that allows a gigabit of data to be downloaded every second – fast enough to download a high-definition film in under one minute.

As of January this year, 19 per cent of the country lacked gigabit-capable reliable broadband connections. 

Most of the areas still lacking gigabit connection were in hard-to-reach rural areas where residents still lacked the connectivity required for even basic internet use. 

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle says: ‘Over the past decade, the UK’s broadband rollout has clearly not happened fast enough and has overlooked too many areas, especially in Scotland and Wales.’

This latest investment will specifically target the rural areas missed by previous rounds of development.

This includes areas in rural Wales, which has never been included in any previous broadband upgrade plans. 

Mr Kyle says: ‘We are fixing this by delivering for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses up and down the country, focusing on the areas that were not prioritised by the previous government, such as Wales.’

The government has already signed contracts worth £288 million to cover areas in Lancashire, North Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire, West and Mid-Surrey, Staffordshire, West Berkshire and Hertfordshire, West and North Devon, and North West, Mid and South East Wales.

Further contracts to bring broadband to the remaining 215,800 people are currently under negotiation with Openreach with more details expected in the coming months.

A report issued in 2023 found that some of the worst areas for full-fibre rollout were in rural regions such as the Isles of Scilly or the Orkney Islands

A report issued in 2023 found that some of the worst areas for full-fibre rollout were in rural regions such as the Isles of Scilly or the Orkney Islands  

The government has signed contracts with Openreach, a telecommunications provider, to bring gigabit-capable connections to 312,000 people

The government has signed contracts with Openreach, a telecommunications provider, to bring gigabit-capable connections to 312,000 people 

19 per cent of the country lacked gigabit-capable connections at the start of the year. These older connections can be slow at peak times, making working from home extremely difficult (stock image)

19 per cent of the country lacked gigabit-capable connections at the start of the year. These older connections can be slow at peak times, making working from home extremely difficult (stock image) 

Areas expected to benefit from the deals include Central and North Scotland, North and South West Wales, Mid and South Devon, East and South Shropshire, North Herefordshire, North Somerset, Essex, North East England and Worcestershire.

Rural areas’ slow connection speeds are largely due to the fact that they are serviced by old copper wires. 

Compared to modern full-fibre systems, copper connections are extremely limited by the amount of data they can carry.

Since fibre optic cables can carry multiple signals at once, their bandwidth is significantly larger than that of copper.

Like replacing a narrow country road with a six-lane highway, this switch means that internet traffic won’t get slowed down and congested at peak times.

Slow broadband speeds are something that many Brits must contend with, and 2023 figures revealed the specific streets with the worst connections

Slow broadband speeds are something that many Brits must contend with, and 2023 figures revealed the specific streets with the worst connections

There is an ongoing push to move towards full-fibre broadband but progress has so far been slow.

Some streets in the UK are suffering with connection speeds as low as 0.6Mb while they wait for fibre optic services to arrive. 

For comparison, Ofcom advises that 10Mb per second is the minimum ‘decent’ speed homes should receive. 

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, says: ‘Research shows that full fibre provides a host of economic, social and environmental benefits – and I believe we’re the best in the business at delivering it.

‘I’m proud we’ve been chosen, through a fiercely competitive process, and we’re already cracking on with the job.’

WHAT ARE THE PLANS TO SUPPLY THE WORLD WITH INTERNET?

Internet access was declared as a basic human right in 2016 by the United Nations. 

However many people around the world struggle to get online due to a lack of infrastructure or extortionate costs. 

Worldwide, 3.8 billion people remain without fast and reliable broadband service, according to the application. 

Several companies have since launched endeavours to provide coverage around the world.

Amazon has launched Project Kuiper which it describes as ‘a long-term initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.’ 

The firm has recently filed an application with the FCC to launch more than 3.000 low Earth orbit satellite into space to help with the project. 

The satellites will orbit 589km to 629km (366 to 391 miles) above Earth. 

The ROK GROUP will be launching a City Wide Wi-Fi network across 25 Indian cities.

The move comes in line with the Indian Government’s efforts to provide internet access to every Indian City.

Wide Wi-Fi Network will offer internet access across large portions of India and will be operated in association with BSNL. 

It was founded with one purpose, to bring high-speed internet to India. 

Elon Musk’s STARLINK project pioneers the use of low-orbit satellites to provide more efficient internet for the world.

SpaceX intends to start launching operational satellites as early as 2019, with the goal of reaching the full capacity of 4,425 satellites in 2024. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have approved the plan, which just requires SpaceX to launch 50 per cent of the satellites by March 2024, and all of them by March 2027.

They are the first in a constellation of thousands of satellites, designed to provide low-cost broadband internet service from low Earth orbit. 

FACEBOOK is working on plans for project ‘Simba’, named after the Lion King character, an underwater cable that will circle the continent with landings on multiple coasts.

 Facebook is in talks to develop an underwater data cable that would encircle the continent, according to people familiar with the plans, an effort aimed at driving down its bandwidth costs and making it easier for the social media giant to sign up more users.

GOOGLE‘s underwater cable plans are much further along, as it has confirmed construction plans for a cable connecting Portugal and South Africa. 

Google’s cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region and will first branch out in Nigeria—Africa’s largest internet market.

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