Deal, Kingsdown, Ripple, Ringwould and Eastry will soon have access to full-fibre broadband as part of a massive rollout across the country by Openreach – with the village of Church Hougham benefitting from a Kent County Council programme to start in April.
Openreach has unveiled plans to install infrastructure in 227 market towns and villages across the UK, with work due to commence over the next 14 months, with Deal and the four larger villages prioritised for broadband installations.
I recently met with Openreach’s Chief Executive, Clive Selley and Chief Engineer, Andy Whale, in Parliament to see first-hand the technology being used to make the new connections and quiz the top team about their community and small village programmes for other parts of the community, such as Hougham, Alkham, Tilmanstone and Denton.
But this is welcome news for Deal and the villages. This Government’s focus to bring Britain up to speed should hugely benefit residents and businesses alike. For too long we’ve lagged behind other countries. It is so important to the strong, prosperous, technology-driven Britain we want to build.
I know many areas still have broadband which is far too slow – and I encourage anyone living in those places to get in touch so we can ask Openreach if more can be done, as well as continuing to work with Kent County Council on their local broadband programme.
Across the country, the Chancellor has pledged £5 billion to support the rollout of gigabit capable broadband in the hardest to reach areas of the country. This is due to be supported by new legislation to accelerate its delivery to millions of homes, building on work already done to bring superfast broadband to over 96 per cent of the country.