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A £200 million project to deliver ultrafast full fibre broadband to rural locations around the UK has officially begun, the government has announced.
The Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme was launched on May 19th by digital secretary Jeremy Wright and involves a two-year plan of works that will see locations such as primary schools in rural areas used as local hubs for the deployment of full fibre connectivity.
It is the first stage of a wider scheme that will take an 'outside in' approach to ensure remote areas are not left behind in the push to ultrafast broadband.
The government has set an ambitious goal of connecting every home and business in the country to this technology by 2033, but in order to achieve this, extra focus will be required for less well-connected areas.
Last summer, the government identified around ten per cent of UK premises, mostly in rural and remote areas, that would be unlikely to receive gigabit-capable connections by 2033 under commercial rollouts.
The RCG programme will therefore look to address this gap with government funding, with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport initially prioritising sites in Cornwall, Cumbria, Northumberland and Pembrokeshire for assistance, with additional sites across all four home nations set to be announced in the coming months.
Mr Wright said: "Our decision to tackle some of the hardest to reach places first is a significant shift in government policy and will be instrumental in delivering our plans for a nationwide full fibre broadband network by 2033."
Among the locations set to benefit from the strategy are 31 primary schools that will be the first to trial the new approach. As well as acting as local hubs for their areas, these schools will also get to experience the benefits of gigabit-capable broadband first-hand, enabling whole classes to simultaneously access the internet on tablets as part of structured lessons and giving schools easier access to online training and educational learning.
Education secretary Damian Hinds said: "In most parts of the country a fast, reliable internet connection is taken for granted - but that is not the case for everyone. This programme will mean that schools in these areas won’t be held back from accessing all of the opportunities the internet has to offer."
