Tech Crunch reports that the first major subsidy contract under the UK government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit scheme has officially been awarded, with Wessex Internet securing £6 million to connect remote properties in South West England to high-speed broadband.

In a world that has rapidly embraced remote work over the past couple of years, the importance of widespread superfast broadband is perhaps more pronounced than ever. However, many homes and businesses — particularly those in rural locations — aren’t suitably served with high-speed internet, putting them at a disadvantage compared to those living in cities and around other major thoroughfares. While the major internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK already provide gigabit-speed internet services to millions of people in urban areas, delivering full fibre-optic broadband to those in more remote locations is often too expensive, in terms of the cost of deploying the infrastructure versus how much they can make back in revenues. And that is why the UK government unveiled Project Gigabit in March 2021 — it’s striving to plug the gaps in these hard-to-reach places, allowing people to work from anywhere, and startups to consider setting up shop away from the usual cities.

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Tech Crunch - The UK’s £5B Project Gigabit gives out first contract to connect rural areas to high-speed broadband