22 August 2022
Broadband

Further to the update I provided last week, I am delighted to share even more news about the work to boost broadband coverage and speeds across our county.

Building Digital UK is a body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and works to ensure that homes and businesses across the country can access fast and reliable digital connectivity, by investing in the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband across fixed and mobile networks.

As part of that work, BDUK have now issued the ‘Invitation to Tender’ to qualifying suppliers for the Norfolk regional Project Gigabit’s procurement phase – which will allow these suppliers to bid for funding to provide gigabit-capable coverage to homes and businesses that, following extensive market and public reviews, have been identified as being unlikely to benefit from such coverage through commercial delivery, or any other public-funded scheme.

Good news – many properties still without such coverage in Mid Norfolk are included in this scheme – which is expected to be awarded a contract with funding up to £114.2 million in March of next year.

While a tremendous amount of progress has been made in the fifteen years or so that I have been actively speaking up for Mid Norfolk on this issue, there is still work to be done – and this latest announcement is a positive next step as we look to ensure that the final 5-10% of homes and businesses still without superfast broadband finally get it.

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can on this vitally important issue for Mid Norfolk – and look forward to providing further updates in due course.

To learn more about my work on this issue, please visit my website here