The consultation, published in December 2020, sought views on how to spend the Government’s £5 billion funding commitment for gigabit broadband in hard-to-reach areas. It outlined a strategy to make local, regional and cross-regional contracts available for broadband network providers of all different sizes to bid for.

The consultation received 96 responses from organisations across the telecoms industry and local government. The Government has now launched “Project Gigabit” and set out its immediate delivery plans, which includes six regional contracts covering up to 510,000 homes and businesses in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Tees Valley.

The Government has also announced a further £210 million investment in a Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme for rural homes and businesses across the UK currently struggling with slow broadband speeds.

Project Gigabit will also invest up to £110 million to connect public buildings such as rural schools, doctors’ surgeries and libraries to gigabit broadband. To access the consultation response, click here. To read the Government’s press release on the launch of Project Gigabit, click here.