I RECENTLY visited Honiley with Openreach, where I got to try my hand at how engineers are working to build an ultrafast full fibre broadband network in Kenilworth and Southam. I am pleased to say that residents of Honiley are now benefiting from ultrafast full fibre, which brings faster speeds and greater reliability, allowing the use of multiple devices at once without any slowdowns or buffering.
Installing the ultrafastf full fibre broadband network is vital to our connectivity, as broadband has become a growing necessity in our daily lives, especially since Covid, when many of us had to switch to remote working and learning. More of us are online, with much of our daily activities revolving around the Internet. Now, not only having broadband but fast ‘gigabit’ broadband, will become a necessity as it is not unusual for multiple household members to be online streaming, working, shopping, or chatting at the same time.
I am working with Openreach to connect even more Kenilworth and Southam communities to the ultrafast full fibre broadband network. Currently, the Openreach team is seeking to update broadband for the communities of Haseley Knob, Beausale, Wroxall and Five Ways. The government is offering broadband vouchers to help with the cost. For more information, please go to the Connect My Community website.
The government has been clear in its support for increasing broadband across the country; the first portion of the £5 billion Project Gigabit has been allocated to support gigabit broadband coverage in areas not covered by commercial roll-out, adding to the 600,000 rural homes and businesses already covered by gigabit with government support.
As set out in its National Infrastructure Strategy, the roll-out of broadband to rural and hard-to-reach areas is a priority. Over 75 per cent of UK premises now have a gigabit-capable connection, up from six per cent in January 2019. The government is working to ensure that by 2025, 85 per cent of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband.
