News  »  Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme for group schemes in rural areas

The government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) – to help homes and businesses in rural areas install a gigabit-capable, full-fibre connection to their premises when part of a group scheme – is now in its second phase and remains open for new applications until 31 March 2021 (or until the funding runs out).

Group schemes are when two or more residents and/or SMEs get together to combine their vouchers towards the shared cost of installation. Single connections are not eligible for additional funding.

Rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) can apply for vouchers worth up to £3500 for each SME, and up to £1500 per residential premise to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections.

Connecting Cambridgeshire has secured £500,000 extra ‘top-up’ funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to provide an additional ‘top-up’ of £1500 per residential premise and SME in order to help connect groups of rural properties getting less than 30Mbps to more than double their speeds. This means the vouchers will have a total value of up to £3000 for residential properties and up to £5000 for businesses.

Please click here to find out more about the scheme and for a postcode search tool that checks eligibility.