County Council to help deliver gigabit broadband

More than 67,000 rural homes and businesses across Derbyshire are to get next-generation gigabit broadband as part of Government plans to level up internet access across the UK.

Derbyshire County Council will support the roll-out in Derbyshire which is being overseen by the Government’s Building Digital UK team and is due to start in early 2022.

The announcement comes as the county council is in the final stages of delivering its Digital Derbyshire programme – a multi-million pound partnership with UK Government and Openreach which has made better, faster broadband available to more than 103,000 premises across the county.

‘Project Gigabit’ will build on this work with up to £110m set aside nationally to help upgrade properties in Derbyshire that would otherwise have been left behind by commercial providers..

Properties in Derbyshire that currently have the slowest connections will be prioritised for the upgrade, helping  boost broadband speeds to more than 1,000 megabits or one gigabit per second - enough to download a HD movie in less than 30 seconds - and lay the foundations for the technology of tomorrow such as 8K-quality video streaming.

It means families will no longer have to battle over bandwidth and residents in rural areas will have the  freedom to live and work more flexibly and businesses will have the improved  speed and reliability needed to operate effectively.

Councillor Carolyn Renwick, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said: “The Digital Derbyshire programme has made tremendous progress over the last few years in delivering the county’s biggest ever broadband transformation by taking better, faster broadband to around a quarter of properties in Derbyshire that otherwise wouldn’t have benefitted.

“But technology doesn’t stand still and I’m pleased that Derbyshire has been included in the Government’s gigabit scheme, with the county council continuing to play a key role in helping to deliver next-generation broadband.  This will ensure that our residents and businesses can continue to operate and engage in an ever-changing digital world.”

Oliver Dowden MP, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “Rural communities in the East Midlands will be among the millions across the UK to get lightning-fast gigabit broadband through the government’s Project Gigabit.

“The £5 billion plan is investing in hard-to-reach areas and drawing in commercial providers to improve the quality and speed of connections, which is at the heart of our national mission to level up the regions and build back better.”

For more information about Project Gigabit visit www.gov.uk

For more information about the Digital Derbyshire programme visit www.digitalderbyshire.org.uk