Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has announced its commitment to build a new fibre optic broadband infrastructure to connect more than 1,700 public sites across the city-region.
It comes as the region secures £23.8m of government funding for its Local Full Fibre Networks Programme.
The ‘supercouncil’ - made up of all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs - has appointed Virgin Media Business to deliver up to 2,700km of new fibre optic broadband infrastructure.
GMCA announced the partnership would deliver fibre optic connectivity to more than 1,500 public service sites in Bury, Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Trafford and Wigan.
GMCA said more than 180 public sites in Salford and Manchester will also see connectivity upgraded, while a further 36 public sites will be connected through the Tameside Cooperative.
Broadband Minister Matt Warman MP said the infrastructure will “bring huge social benefits and attract further commercial funding to boost the region’s £3bn digital sector”.
GMCA said the investment would make it the largest Local Full Fibre Networks Programme in the 海角视频.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “This is a huge achievement for Greater Manchester’s public sector and really demonstrates the value of collaboration.
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“Full fibre will supercharge our digital capacity and help our public sector sites to continue delivering the best possible services to residents across our city-region.
He continued: “We are also minimising the costs for all providers to invest in Greater Manchester through our Full Fibre Prospectus.
“We are committed to making it as easy as possible for all to providers to invest in digital connections that benefit our businesses and communities.
“As well as revolutionising our public services, it will give a huge boost to Greater Manchester’s towns and cities, cementing our position as one of the leading digital city-regions in Europe.”
The announcement follows the launch of the Digital Blueprint for Greater Manchester in February, which set the ambition for Greater Manchester to be a ‘world-class digital city-region’.
The deal with Virgin Media also includes investments in initiatives that aim to support the Digital Blueprint, including a commitment from Virgin Media Business to directly create 20 apprenticeships based in Greater Manchester, as well as investing in digital and STEM skills for young people.
Peter Kelly, managing director of Virgin Media Business, said: “Manchester is an enormously important centre for Virgin Media, a gigabit city and the place our Project Lightning network expansion programme first started.
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“Today’s investment will build on our proud connection to the city and bring next-generation connectivity to Greater Manchester, giving the city region the best digital infrastructure in the 海角视频.”
Councillor Elise Wilson, Digital Lead for Greater Manchester and Leader of Stockport Council, added: “This is immense news for Greater Manchester and a refreshingly new approach to investing in infrastructure with a huge emphasis on collaboration and services that are designed to serve the majority as well as our future generations.
“With businesses and services going digital at an unprecedented rate, having the right infrastructure that not only considers where we are now, but where we will be in 30 years’ time is vital.
“This future-proofed connectivity supports the work we are doing in Greater Manchester to make public sector services more efficient and sets a standard to better ways of doing”.