Working from home during the pandemic has been challenging for many, especially those struggling with slow internet speeds. Now the Government has committed to a billion-pound broadband upgrade to ensure almost two million more premises across rural parts of England will have better internet connections.

       The Government has set aside ￡5billion to cover the costs of this upgrade.

       The Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, has announced a further 1.85 million additional premises will get access to gigabit-speed internet, equivalent to 1,000 megabits per second.

       This plan dubbed “Project Gigabit” forms part of the Government’s ambitious plan to achieve at least 85 percent gigabit-capable UK coverage by 2025.

       The Government says its plan to give millions of Brits in rural areas access to the fastest broadband speeds on the market is “part of a ￡5 billion plan to level up internet access across the UK.”

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       They said: “The government’s Project Gigabit fund to upgrade digital infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas will accelerate the country’s recovery from covid, fire up high-growth sectors such as tech and the creative industries, put an end to families battling for bandwidth and bring the speed and reliability people need to start and run businesses.”

       Which areas will be covered under the plan?

       Mr Dowden said the upgrade programme will give millions of Brits access to gigabit-capable coverage across 26 English counties.

       The first areas to benefit from the multibillion-pound broadband upgrade were announced in March, these were:

       Work on phase two of this plan is due to start in 2022, the counties included in this stage include:

       After this stage is complete the rollout will be extended to cover the following areas:

       Mr Dowden said: “Project Gigabit is our national mission to level up rural areas by giving them the fastest internet speeds on the market.

       “Millions more rural homes and businesses will now be lifted out of the digital slow lane thanks to our mammoth ￡5 billion investment and one of the quickest rollouts in Europe.”