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<ul><li><p>DCMS are working tirelessly to improve home broadband connections. £2.6bn
public funding is committed to subsidising the roll-out of broadband infrastructure
in harder-to-reach areas through the government's Superfast Broadband programme. The
original programme target of 95% was achieved and we have continued beyond this to
greater than 96%.</p></li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><ul><li><p>Over 96.6% of UK
premises have access to superfast (30Mbps) broadband, with 5.3 million additional
homes and businesses in both rural and semi-rural areas having superfast broadband
available for the first time thanks to the government’s investment in the Superfast
programme. (Source: ThinkBroadband)</p></li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><ul><li><p>Blackpool
has recently completed an LFFN project, which has enabled the development of a full
fibre broadband network throughout Blackpool comprising the re-use of existing Blackpool
network assets, the build of an additional 20.678km underground duct infrastructure
and the installation of 54.5km of fibre optic cables. The project has enabled business
and consumers across the authority access to Gigabit services as part of the deployment
of the network.</p></li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><ul><li><p>The Rural Gigabit
Connectivity programme, launched in May 2019 acting as the first step towards piloting
the “Outside-In” approach identified in the FTIR. The programme was set up to trial
the LFFN PSBU delivery mechanism, to provide gigabit capable connectivity to public
sector buildings (Hubs), along with vouchers to eligible residential and business
premises in rural and remote areas. The RGC programme is combining both demand and
supply-side interventions.</p></li></ul><p> </p><ul><li><p>The programme focused on
targeting Hubs located within the Final 10% & 20% of least commercially viable
areas across the UK identified through DCMS modelling (This was originally only the
F10%, however this was altered to the F20% following the Year 2 business case submission
to HMT in March 2020).</p></li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><ul><li><p>The Gigabit
Broadband Voucher Scheme was a pilot which has enabled us to test different approaches
to stimulate the broadband market and to support the installation of gigabit-capable
broadband to homes and businesses; it has been very successful and we're going to
build on this success with a new voucher in April, while also taking the opportunity
to refine our approach to ensure that we focus support on the hardest to reach premises.</p></li></ul><p>
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