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<p>The government is committed to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband to everyone
in the UK. Our plan - to stimulate investment, bust barriers and drive competition
- is working. We're on track for one of the fastest rollouts in Europe and for 60%
of all households to have access to gigabit capable speeds by the end of the year.
It is a huge leap forward from 2019, when it was just 9%.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The
government will announce the next areas to be connected via Project Gigabit shortly
as it pushes ahead with efforts to connect at least 85 per cent of the UK to gigabit-capable
broadband by 2025.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The telecoms market is thriving
with new entrants and investments changing the picture on the ground. Project Gigabit
is designed to be responsive to this and the ordering and timing of the procurement
pipeline will remain dynamic with quarterly updates to the plan.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Kent
is Phase 2 of Project Gigabit’s procurement plans. There will be a procurement process
for a supplier to provide gigabit coverage to all premises within the area which are
not scheduled to get coverage through any other route (subject to a cost cap for the
very hard to reach premises).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Both the new voucher
scheme and the procurements are part of Project Gigabit, which we are supporting with
funding of £5 billion so hard to reach communities are not left out - starting to
level up now, not waiting for the end of the commercial rollout, and adding to the
half a million rural homes and businesses already given coverage through our support</p><p><strong>
</strong></p><p>To provide immediate support across the UK we are funding up to £210
million worth of vouchers over the next three years to help with the costs of installing
gigabit capable networks to people’s doorsteps and up to £110 million to connect up
to 7,000 rural public buildings such as GP surgeries, libraries and schools.</p><p><strong>
</strong></p><p>Currently 93.64% of the constituency of Tonbridge and Malling have
access to Superfast broadband, which is slightly lower than the national average of
96.84%. Tonbridge and Malling has seen 292 voucher connections with a value of over
£447,805. There are also a further 312 vouchers that are pending connection, totalling
£982,778.</p><p> </p>
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