Working in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS), Leicestershire will be the first county in the country to roll out ‘GigaHubs’, significantly improving broadband access and speeds in rural areas.
Leicestershire County Council is creating more than 40 hubs in schools, libraries, recycling centres and other buildings within rural areas to make progress towards delivering high speed coverage for the county.
This £1.55 million in DCMS funding is part of Project Gigabit, the Government's £5 billion programme to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas of the UK. This scheme will improve connectivity across thousands of public sector buildings including schools, GP surgeries and libraries.
The project is due to start by the end of 2022 and complete by 2024. Once work is finished at each site, residents will be able to sign up for fibre community vouchers with local suppliers to bring gigabit-capable broadband to more properties in the area.”
Alicia Kearns MP, Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton said:
“It is fantastic to hear that members of our rural communities, families and businesses will be the first to benefit from these improved broadband speeds of up to 1,000mpbs – the fastest connectivity currently available. The new infrastructure will incentivise vital new investment in our remote communities and boost productivity in businesses and schools across Leicestershire. I will continue to do all I can to push for progress to improve broadband access and speeds in other rural communities across Rutland, Melton, the Vale and Harborough villages.”
Councillor Pam Posnett, Cabinet Member for Broadband at Leicestershire County Council said:
“The GigaHubs programme will really benefit rural communities. Residents in rural areas will be able to benefit from greater broadband speeds, helping families, businesses and people working from home. We’ve already delivered superfast broadband to more than 75,000 premises, taking the total to 97 per cent within the county, but championing GigaHubs means we can push on.”
