Northumberland County Council boosts tech for rural areas with £12m investment

Northumberland County Council has received £12m funding to help rural communities become more digital.

The North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) made a bid to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport earlier this year for the investment from its Local Full Fibre Networks programme.

The funding is said to pay for the rollout of fibre internet connections to public buildings across Northumberland, supposedly improving speed and reliability of connectivity to these sites.

Northumberland County Council’s leader, Peter Jackson, said: “This is fantastic news for the county, providing rural Northumberland with better connectivity than many city centres.

“Both here in Northumberland and across the Combined Authority we recognise that having widely available, high-speed, affordable and reliable connectivity to businesses and residents is crucial in maintaining our economic competitiveness.

“This upgrade to our infrastructure in the county is a building block for higher broadband speeds to many other communities across our county and doing this will have a much-wider long term impact.”

The £12m funding will deliver gigabit capable full fibre connectivity to 313 public sector sites via the Northumberland Gigabit Project.

The project, which is set to be welcomed by the NTCA’s Cabinet next Tuesday (July 30), aims to be complete by early 2021.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →