The UK Gigabit Programme or 'Project Gigabit' is a £5 billion government infrastructure project that brings together everything the government is doing to enable and deliver fast and reliable digital connectivity for the country.
Project Gigabit includes schemes such as the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (see below) and also phased contracts to those hard to reach parts of the UK that will need government support towards the cost of gigabit-capable broadband.
Project Gigabit contract timeframes
As part of this programme, Building Digital UK (BDUK), part of Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is launching phased contracts to those hard to reach parts of the UK that will need government support towards the cost of gigabit-capable broadband. Most Surrey homes and businesses are included in Lot 22 (Surrey) although approximately 24,000 Surrey premises are included in other Lots including Lot 1 (West Sussex), Lot 26 (Bucks, Herts and East of Berkshire), Lot 27 (Hampshire), Lot 29 (Kent) and Lot 37 (Greater London).
The Government has completed its market engagement activities for all Lots in the UK. Whilst some of them are progressing to procurement, the procurement timeframes and scope for eligible Lot 22 premises have changed. These will now be considered for inclusion either in a small procurement of approximately 2,800 premises with the contract due to be signed in November 2023 or as part of a much larger cross-regional supplier framework, with the contract date still to be confirmed.
To complement this work and to support pace of delivery there are several other elements to Project Gigabit including the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (see below) that residents and businesses may wish to consider.
Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
The Government is providing up to £210m worth of voucher funding as immediate help for people experiencing slow broadband speeds in rural areas. Vouchers are now worth up to £4,500 each for eligible homes and businesses (SMEs) and can be used to help to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband to homes and businesses..
Due to the Project Gigabit procurement activities, the Government has currently paused the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme in Surrey and it is unlikely to re-start before the end of 2023. We will update this page as soon as we have any more information. .