Kemi Badenoch MP has welcomed the Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit that will see more than one million hard to reach homes and businesses benefit from lightning fast broadband.
Up to 140,000 homes and business in areas across Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and the wider area will reap the rewards of Project Gigabit, with next-generation broadband speeds built to them.
This project prioritises areas that currently have slow connections and which would otherwise have been left behind in broadband companies’ rollout plans, putting the investment in place to make their available speeds rocket to more than 1,000 megabits or one gigabit per second. Contracts for these first areas will go to tender in the spring with spades in the ground in the first half of 2022.
Project Gigabit will also make £110 million available to connect public sector buildings such as GP surgeries, schools and libraries in hard to reach areas, as well as investing £210 million in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme, which will help cover the installation costs of bringing gigabit connectivity to homes and businesses in rural areas.
Commenting, Mrs Badenoch said:
“Families and businesses across the constituency are relying on the internet now more than ever to work, shop and stay in touch with loved ones, so connection speeds have never been more important.
“I am pleased that Essex has been prioritised in Project Gigabit and that some homes and businesses across the constituency will be benefitting from a faster more reliable broadband service.
“I have been working closely with the team at Superfast Essex, who are running the rollout programme of superfast broadband to areas in our constituency, as well as with providers rolling out commercially since becoming the local MP. I am committed to supporting residents to ensure we all have a decent and reliable broadband and encourage anyone who is experiencing problems to contact me.”
