Investment in rural broadband is vital. Broadband is not just essential for businesses across the United Kingdom, but it also makes areas more attractive places to live and work. High quality broadband also helps rejuvenate otherwise more isolated communities that feel left behind.
A quarter of local homes in Buckingham constituency get under 10Mbs broadband speeds, with 6% unable to get any sort of decent broadband at all.
That’s why Conservatives are committing £5 billion to support spreading broadband to the hardest-to-reach 20% of the country. We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel. So this commitment will deliver fast broadband to everyone – and help communities everywhere prosper.
What is gigabit broadband?
Gigabit internet is the next generation of broadband internet service, providing lightning-quick connections over fibre optic lines. Gigabit broadband provides online speeds of 1,000Mbps, or 1 Gbps. Hence it is commonly referred to as “gigabit internet” or “gigabit broadband”.
Standard broadband is roughly 2Mbps to 8 Mbps, while ‘superfast’ broadband begins at roughly 30Mbps. While this was good enough in the past, now many experts see gigabit broadband as the current benchmark for businesses to prosper in a modern economy like the UK's.
Almost 40 times faster than superfast broadband, gigabit speeds will benefit families who stream TV across the UK and support businesses stay online and navigate the web quickly.
Conservatives have a strong record delivering high-speed rural broadband
Conservatives are providing the basis for our ambitious gigabit broadband plans by unlocking over £1 billion investment into the technology which underpins it. We are additionally supporting competitive commercial investment into full fibre through the £400 million Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund. This is expected to unlock over £1 billion in public and private investment in full fibre technologies.
This is on top of our 2025 full fibre target
Every household in the UK should have access to gigabit broadband and puts real money behind it. These are all positive steps and over the next few months, we will work to dramatically speed up the rollout of fast, reliable and secure broadband and get gigabit speeds right across the UK.
CityFibre, Hyperoptic and Openreach are all making significant announcements to deploy full fibre in a number of towns and cities across the UK as well as new entrants also entering the market. Now, we’re seeing full fibre coverage increase faster than ever thanks to the work we and businesses have put in.
