Rural fibre rollouts in Kent get funding boost

Efforts to bring high-speed fibre connectivity to rural locations in Kent have received a boost thanks to additional funding from the local council. Kent County Council has confirmed it will top up the value of the government's rural gigabit vouchers from £1,500 per household to £2,500 in order to improve takeup of the services. The local authority has committed a total of £2.8 million to boost the voucher scheme, which will be available to homeowners in rural areas who apply in a group of two or more households. It aims to provide fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) services to areas that would otherwise miss out, providing residents with download speeds of up to 1Gbps. Councillor Mark Dance, cabinet member for economic development at Kent County Council, said the scheme will make a "vital contribution" to efforts to bring high-speed connectivity to areas that have been deemed too expensive or difficult to connect under commercial rollouts. He added: "I believe this will make a real difference and encourage as many of our rural residents as possible to take up these opportunities to get the connectivity they need." The council's Making Kent Quicker scheme, which is funded in partnership with the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), has already delivered superfast connections to 138,000 homes and businesses that would otherwise have been left relying on slow legacy technology. Meanwhile, the council has also announced a further investment of £4.5 million in partnership with DCMS that will see an additional 5,000 rural homes and businesses with no or slow broadband receive FTTP broadband connections from Openreach. Minister for digital and broadband Matt Warman commented: “The government is investing over £650 million in full fibre broadband and we’re prioritising rural areas to make sure they get a gigabit-capable connection first. "I very much welcome further investment from Kent County Council that matches our ambitions and helps local businesses and homes take advantage of this connectivity."

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