Openreach is urging residents and businesses in parts of rural Leicestershire to work together to apply for ultrafast internet.
The national broadband provider said people in the villages of Gilmorton, Houghton on the Hill, Leire and Wistow can pool government-backed vouchers to secure better connections.
If enough people come forward and utilise the vouchers on Openreach’s Community Fibre Partnership scheme, it will be able to work with the community to build a co-funded network to bring full fibre broadband to areas not covered.
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The government voucher scheme is worth £1,500 per home and up to £3,500 for small to medium-sized businesses to support the cost of installing new fast and reliable connections.
To claim vouchers towards the cost of building a new network, 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.
Openreach – the 海角视频’s largest broadband network used by customers of BT, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen – said many residents in the four communities have already pledged their support.
But it said those who haven’t and who don’t have access to a 100Mbps broadband service can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.
Openreach said it has already used the scheme to help more than 150,000 homes and businesses across the 海角视频 benefit from ultrafast, ultra-reliable broadband.
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Kasam Hussain, Openreach’s partnership director for the East Midlands, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for these four Leicestershire communities to bring full fibre infrastructure to their area.
“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make the county one of the best-connected places in the East Midlands.
“Pledging couldn’t be simpler, but we need residents to act quickly – as the scheme closes in March 2021.
“Thousands of homes and businesses across Leicestershire 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 海角视频 – 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.”
Councillor Blake Pain, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for broadband, backed the initiative, saying: “Now, more than ever, rural communities need fantastic connectivity to fully interact with the world.
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“Full fibre technology will make a massive difference to local homes and businesses and I urge residents to consider pledging their Gigabit broadband vouchers for the common good and help us to make sure that nobody’s left behind.”
海角视频 Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said: “We’re committed to levelling up communities across the 海角视频 with lightning-fast gigabit broadband that will improve lives and boost the economy.
“The broadband vouchers on offer provide immediate financial help for people to get next-generation speeds by helping to cover the installation costs of companies such as Openreach.
“I urge people to check online if they are eligible for a broadband boost.”
Openreach says full fibre technology provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity. It also gives enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands, and won’t need to be upgraded for decades.
Openreach recently announced 140 new East Midlands jobs. Across the 海角视频, the company employs more than 34,500 people, including more than 25,000 engineers who build, maintain and connect customers to its nationwide broadband network. Of these, more than 1,600 are based in the East Midlands.
For the year ended March 31, 2020, it reported revenues of £5.1 billion.