Rural communities to get superfast broadband

More than 4,500 rural homes and businesses in Yorkshire can now access the fastest, most reliable broadband available.

A £60m government contract with supplier Quickline will connect remote areas to full gigabit coverage by 2030.

The infrastructure is already operational in a number of villages near York, including Escrick, Crofton, Elvington, Sutton upon Derwent and Wheldrake.

Telecoms minister Sir Chris Bryant said: "It's bringing the connectivity everybody really needs to live a modern life."

Speaking at the Leeds Digital Festival on Wednesday, he added: "It will make a radical difference to people's businesses and people's lives, because you can just do so much more than you could when you had the circle of doom going round and you couldn't download even a movie properly.

"Everybody almost immediately forgets what it was like to live in the old world where you couldn't have two people watching different things at the same time.

"People forget that very quickly, because the world changes very rapidly and we do so many more things online than we used to."

Escrick, a village on the A19 between York and Selby, was where the first homes were connected to Quickline's full fibre service as part of the contract.

The community was chosen to benefit from the upgrade as a "hard-to-reach" area. The village has 380 households, few amenities and no mains gas supply.

Eventually, 28,000 homes will be able to access the full fibre network in West Yorkshire and the York area.

A separate contract awarded to Quickline as part of Project Gigabit covers 32,000 rural properties in South Yorkshire.

The first Quickline customer to be given access to the high-speed coverage, Emma Tonkins, said: “We have so many devices at home that are connected to the internet and we probably watch streaming services more often than regular television now so when we lose picture quality and get buffering, it is quite frustrating.

“We just want to know that our broadband is reliable. We use the internet the same as anyone else, regardless of where we live and need to be able to rely on it working all the time, especially as more and more services move online.”

Julian Chalk, head of network engagement and enablement at Quickline, said: "We're proud to be delivering gigabit capable broadband to rural communities in the York area as part of the government’s project gigabit programme.

"Our goal is to make an impact quickly and light up these areas as soon as possible.

"Everyone deserves access to reliable broadband and we're committed to helping our customers to thrive in the digital world."

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