Press release: Better Broadband Scheme extended for another year

• Scheme offers immediate assistance to those in hardest to reach places
• More than 10,000 UK homes and businesses have already had their broadband speeds boosted through the initiative

The “Better Broadband Scheme” provides a subsidy of up to £350 to enable access to an affordable basic broadband service to those people unable to get broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps.

Minister for Digital, Matt Hancock said:

Thanks to the UK Government’s rollout of superfast broadband, more than 94 per cent of the UK can now access superfast broadband speeds and thousands more homes and businesses are being reached every week.

There is still more to be done to get decent broadband to all and the Better Broadband Scheme helps people with the very worst broadband, to provide immediate assistance to those most in need. I’m delighted to say we are extending the scheme to help people in some of the most rural and hard to reach areas of the country.

Already more than 10,000 homes and businesses have benefitted from the Scheme, with subsidies that are worth over £3 million in total. Originally due to conclude at the end of 2017, the steadily growing popularity of the scheme means that it will now be extended until the end of 2018.

Households and businesses that are eligible to take advantage of the Scheme are provided with a unique code by the Government that they can use to obtain an affordable basic broadband connection. The code does not have a specific fixed value but the subsidy contributes towards the installation and hardware costs to ensure that the customer’s first year costs are no more than £400.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Taking out a broadband service under this Scheme will not prevent your premises from being considered for superfast broadband in the future.
2. People can check what broadband services are already available to them by using the GoSuperfast checker , and what their current broadband speed is, using the ADSL availability checker.
3. If, after making these checks, they believe their speed is less than 2 Mb per second and they have no other options available enter your postcode below to find out how to apply for help.