FullFibre secures £33million in funding from UK’s Project Gigabit

FullFibre secures £33million in funding from UK’s Project Gigabit

FullFibre

Wholesale network provider FullFibre has announced that it has won two new contracts from the UK governments Project Gigabit rollout, worth a total of £33 million.

The rollout of high-speed broadband will be focused on West Herefordshire, Forest of Dean and rural Northern Derbyshire.

Project Gigabit is the government’s £5 billion mission to upgrade digital connectivity in hard-to-reach areas.

Over 12,000 new premises will be reached by the rollout.

£10 million has been awarded to FullFibre to connect around 4,400 premises in rural Northern Derbyshire which span across 87 towns and villages.

The remaining £23 million has been awarded to connect around 7,900 premises in West Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean.

These contracts enable the business to also reach a further 18,000 deep rural properties, which would under normal circumstances be considered too expensive as part of the overall plans for the regions.

Initial surveying began on 1st April this year.

FullFibre operate a wholesale business model across an open network, with partnerships with numerous internet service providers.

This means customers in the targeted regions will have increased freedom of choice when it comes to their provider, allowing for more competitive pricing and reducing the need for high-cost, long-term contracts.

“Building network in a rural setting has always been a part of FullFibre’s DNA,” interim CEO James Warner said.

“We now have the opportunity to push this even further by working in partnership with the government, to bring FullFibre’s connectivity to thousands of families and businesses across West Herefordshire and the Peak District in the most difficult to reach parts of these regions.”

FullFibre’s entire network is close to covering 400,000 premises. According to its website it is actively building towards 1 million premises.

“"This latest cash injection from Project Gigabit will bring lightning-fast gigabit connections to hard-to-reach areas in parts of the Peak District, the Forest of Dean and Herefordshire,” Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said.

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