'Good broadband is an essential today, like water'

Thousands of rural homes and businesses will be "waiting longer to be dragged into the 21st Century" after changes to a government broadband project, said an MP.

Project Gigabit is a £5bn programme designed to link hard-to-reach communities with access to ultra-fast gigabit-capable fibre broadband.

However, more than 16,000 such households have been removed from the roll-out in Norfolk, according to MP Steffan Aquarone and a cross-party group of the county's MPs.

A government spokesperson said public money "is targeted where the market is not expected to deliver coverage".

Good broadband is better for the economy as well as people's quality of life, he added [Getty Images]

North Norfolk MP Aquarone told BBC Radio Norfolk's Graham Barnard: "Whilst I completely agree the government shouldn't be funding stuff that doesn't need it, I don't think they've taken into account what I would call the opportunity cost.

"They set expectations, people started to get ready for the arrival of fast fibre - and now there's going to be a delay and that time is money for businesses, it's opportunity for families."

Tom Payton, the founder of comparison site Broadband Savvy, based at Shipdham, near Dereham, said: "In our opinion, fast broadband is like having a good water supply or electricity these days - it's just absolutely essential."

He pointed out there was "no contract and no legal guarantee" for companies to roll out ultra-fast fibre broadband to households removed from the government scheme.

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Aquarone has jointly written to the government along with Conservative MPs Jerome Mayhew, for Broadland and Fakenham, George Freeman, for Mid Norfolk and James Wild, for North West Norfolk, Rupert Lowe, independent MP for Great Yarmouth and Adrian Ramsey, Green MP for Waveney Valley, saying their rural constituents have been treated as "second class citizens".

"We should have started with the hardest to reach properties and then worked our way in, whether commercially or with government funding," Aquarone said.

"The reason, is once you've connected that really hard to reach farmhouse that's up a two mile track, every subsequent connection you make to fibre is going to be cheaper and easier - that's how other countries have done it.

"The practical reality on the ground is that those houses, those businesses, especially in harder to reach places and in smaller villages, they're going to be waiting longer to be dragged into the 21st Century."

Residents have been left in the dark about how the government plans to get them connected, the MPs said [Getty Images]

Max Beckett, a broadband expert from comparison site USwitch, said there are possible solutions for households, while they wait for the upgrade.

"Mobile broadband in the form of 4G or 5G is much easier to set up because there's no cabling involved - the providers just send you a hub and then you can rely on mobile internet there," he said.

"And some people are now also relying on satellite broadband, which has very good coverage across the UK and is a bit faster, but at the moment it's very expensive."

A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: "Project Gigabit is entirely focused on bringing faster broadband to hard-to-reach homes and businesses that are unlikely to be covered by commercial rollout. Public funding complements private investment and is targeted where the market is not expected to deliver coverage.

"Where commercial plans change, we work with suppliers to update delivery plans and ensure taxpayer funding remains focused on the rural and remote communities most in need of support."

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