An additional £700,000 of funding from Essex County Council has been secured to bring lightning-fast and more reliable broadband internet connections to the hardest-to-reach addresses in the county.
Vouchers from the government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) are currently available in Essex to groups of two or more residents or businesses, to subsidise the costs of bringing gigabit broadband to areas currently experiencing slow speeds.
The additional funding from Essex County Council will ‘top up’ these vouchers, so even more money is available to improve digital connectivity and boost the regional economy.
Combined with funding from the GBVS, eligible residents will be awarded up to £8,500 towards a gigabit-capable connection, while businesses can receive up to £15,000.
“This additional funding will allow us to bring better connectivity to residents, businesses and communities who are still unable to access decent broadband speeds.
“This intervention is significant as, currently, one per cent of our Essex residents and businesses are still unable to access superfast broadband speeds. We want to make sure every individual and business has the opportunity to benefit from digital technologies, and improving connectivity is the first step to achieving this goal.”
“Our vouchers have already helped thousands of rural homes and businesses in Essex get lightning-fast gigabit internet connections. I welcome this funding boost which will help us go even further to put communities into the digital fast lane.
“Vouchers are just one way we're rolling out better broadband through Project Gigabit – our £5 billion programme to make sure those living and working in rural areas can access the quickest and most reliable connections."
Gigabit broadband is capable of download speeds of 1 gigabit (1,000 megabits) per second. The economic and social benefits of these high-speed internet connections are central to the Council’s vision for the region.
Businesses and residents in rural Essex are eligible to receive these contributions towards gigabit-capable connections if they are unable to access superfast broadband speeds (‘superfast’ is defined as a minimum of 30Mbps download speed).
Residents and businesses can visit the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme website at https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk to find a list of suppliers in their local area. Once you have made contact with a supplier, you do not need to do anything further and the supplier will apply for the relevant level of funding required to support each project.