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Rural towns and villages in more parts of England and Wales will be able to enjoy access to ultrafast broadband connectivity as the rollout of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks continues to grow.
Several companies have unveiled plans to expand their reach into poorly-served communities recently, including Spectrum Internet, which announced its intention to connect some 150,000 properties across market towns and rural villages in south Wales.
The company is looking to take advantage of a recently-announced scheme from the Welsh government that will give broadband suppliers access to hundreds of miles of cable ducts across the country. These facilities run alongside major trunk roads and are currently used for traffic management systems, such as CCTV and digital road signs.
Founder of Spectrum Giles Phelps welcomed the opening up of this infrastructure, which should allow companies to greatly increase the pace at which they are able to roll out their connectivity networks.
He said: "Wales is lagging behind the rest of Europe in rolling out such technology and access to the Welsh government assets will allow us to build on our established success to many areas currently poorly served by existing telecom operators."
Elsewhere, rural-focused service provider County Broadband has also announced plans to expand its coverage, with the firm moving into south Cambridgeshire.
The firm is aiming to add an additional 20,000 premises to its network and has initially announced nine villages that are set to benefit from gigabit-capable connectivity, with more to follow later in the year.
It uses a demand-led strategy, which requires 30 per cent of premises in each community to express interest in the service before work can begin.
Chief executive of County Broadband Lloyd Felton said: "Changing consumer habits and increased data reliance from the rise of online streaming, combined with an increasing number of services from health to education moving online, means that future-ready internet connectivity is now essential."
However, he noted that too many properties are still being held back by outdated, copper-based infrastructure, which the new rollouts will look to change.
