Nearly 700,000 homes, farms and businesses across rural England are set to see the roll out of 'gigabit-capable' broadband after decades of slow connectivity.
The government’s broadband scheme 'Project Gigabit' has signed £1.1 billion worth of contracts to help deliver connectivity to hard-to-reach, remote areas.
Six new contracts have been announced, allowing suppliers to begin detailed surveying work to better connect rural premises, including farms.
Five of these latest contracts will be delivered by provider CityFibre, serving rural areas in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes.
A further contract to upgrade premises in Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire has been awarded to Hull-based supplier Connexin.
Full fibre is capable of delivering speeds of up to 1,000 megabits (or one gigabit) per second - up to 30 times faster than superfast connections which rely on traditional copper cables.
Data and Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said: "We’re wasting no time in our mission to bring lightning-fast broadband to rural areas - with a billion pounds in contracts already signed.
"Project Gigabit is already driving growth, creating jobs and putting an end to snail’s pace internet speeds, and we will continue to work to ensure people feel the benefits of our rollout."
Last month, the government announced that gigabit coverage had reached 80% of the UK, up from just 6% in 2019, and the UK is on track to achieve 85% by 2025.
However, according to a recent survey by the NFU, just one-fifth of British farmers have reliable mobile signals across their whole farm.
The union warned that farmers' ability to meet the challenges of the future were being held back by poor broadband and mobile connectivity.
Fewer than half of farmers reported broadband speeds which they said were adequate for their business.
And one in 20 farmers reported to the NFU that they had no reliable outdoor mobile signal on their farm at all.
But Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said the rollout of 'gigabit-capable' broadband would provide 'unparalleled reliability' to remote areas.
He said: "We’re thrilled to be a key delivery partner for the government on this critical infrastructure project, transforming the digital capabilities of rural homes and businesses across the country.
"We’re continuing to expand our commercial rollout alongside Project Gigabit, extending infrastructure choice [and] multi-gigabit speeds to hundreds of thousands of additional premises in these regions."
