Connecting Cambridgeshire has secured £500,000 extra top-up funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to help premises with the slowest broadband cover the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections that will more than double their speeds.
Better broadband is something I have campaigned for since I was first elected in 2015.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough voucher top-up funding is part of Connecting Cambridgeshire’s Keeping Everyone Connected work, using digital connectivity to help businesses and communities to recover from Covid-19, and will be used to rollout fibre broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas.
Groups of rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 100Mbps, can apply to the national Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and pool vouchers worth up to £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for small to medium enterprises towards the cost of installing a new full fibre connection.
In addition, eligible rural properties getting less than 30Mbps will automatically receive a top up to the voucher - offering an extra £1,500 per household or business towards the installation cost of gigabit-capable broadband. This means premises in group projects with the slowest speeds will get vouchers worth up to £3,000 per residential premise and up to £5,000 per business.
The deadline to apply for the scheme is 31 March 2021 unless funding runs out before then as money will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information visit https://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/…/rural-gigabit…/
