Broadband voucher scheme extends availability for the greater good
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LOCAL residents are being encouraged to claim money off an improved broadband service, to extend its availability for the greater good.
Moray’s MSP Richard Lochhead is supporting a new initiative to extend the rural next-generation network build, while urging the Forres community to claim government-backed vouchers that deliver ultrafast broadband.
He said: “Rrural communities need fantastic connectivity to fully interact with the world. Full fibre technology makes a massive difference to local homes and businesses. It makes sense for the local build programme to be extended as far as possible, and I urge residents to consider pledging their vouchers for the common good and help us to make sure that nobody’s left behind.”
Hundreds of residents in Forres can now connect to reliable broadband but Openreach is calling on backing for a bid to bring the new network to even more homes and businesses. The company is planning an expansion to the town’s full fibre broadband network next year and wants residents and businesses to consider pooling broadband vouchers available from the UK and Scottish governments to help extend the build even further.
Residents who do not already have access to a 100Mbps broadband service can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website. The vouchers can be combined to extend the ultrafast, ultra-reliable network to premises in outlying rural areas which will not be covered by private investment.
Openreach’s partnership director for Scotland, Robert Thorburn, believes this is an opportunity to help bring full fibre infrastructure to hard-to-reach local addresses.
He said: “Because we’ve already committed to build full fibre to the majority of the town, the Scottish and UK governments are supporting this incremental approach to help us to go even further. But it’s only possible with everyone working together.
“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make Forres one of the best-connected places in Moray. Pledging couldn’t be simpler, but we need residents to act quickly – the UK scheme closes in March 2021.”
He added: “Several hundred local homes, mainly in recent housing estates in the south part of the town, can already upgrade to the Openreach full fibre network, and local people can use our online postcode checker to see what’s now available.
“We’re investing £12 billion to build full fibre broadband to 20 million homes – and more than three million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK – but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone. This latest support from government, alongside help to remove red tape and barriers
that slow down the build, is vital.”
To claim vouchers, residents are asked to commit to ordering a full fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available.
Eligible residents qualify for up to £1500 for rural homes and up to £3500 for small and medium-sized businesses under the UK government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme – while the Scottish Government can boost the funds to eligible households by a further £5000.
The agreement between the two governments means maximum funding of £6500 for eligible households and £8500 for qualifying businesses could be available.
Visit https://www.openreach.com/connect-my-community for more information.
