Voneus £12m broadband contract terminated

A broadband company has agreed to terminate a £12m government contract to connect up some rural areas of Shropshire.

Voneus won the Project Gigabit contract for mid west Shropshire - serving more than 6,000 homes - in March 2024.

Building Digital UK (BDUK) said it was "moving swiftly to put in place alternative plans with other suppliers to connect premises that were due to be connected".

In a joint statement with the government agency, Voneus said the two bodies had "mutually agreed to end the Project Gigabit contract".

The deal was expected to see the firm set up gigabit-capable connections for some of the most rural parts of the county, with the first premises using the high-speed network in 2025.

However the firm has faced dozens of complaints from customers of its current network complaining that slow speeds and poor customer service were affecting their businesses and family lives.

After months of complaints by more than 100 customers, earlier this month the Chirbury and Worthen councillor Heather Kidd contacted Voneus and the media.

Kidd said: "Working from home is now an essential, not a 'nice to have'. Even watching TV is now something most expect to be able to do online."

She added that many people relied on landlines attached to their routers - or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) - because mobile phone coverage was so poor.

Kidd said the result was that people could be left "completely cut off".

Charles Rowton, who runs an environmental consultancy business, told the BBC last week that he had "wasted hours" on repeating bank transfers or data work due to a slow connection.

"It also interrupts phone calls, Zoom calls and Teams calls. It can be very frustrating," he said.

William Edmonson from Rowley near Westbury, said "It's a pain in the butt... the browser gives you the endless circle of doom and then says server not responding... it's very irksome."

Speaking at the time, a spokesperson for Voneus said appreciated the concerns raised and planned to "increase community communication".

On Friday, BDUK announced that it and Voneus had mutually agreed to terminate the Project Gigabit contract for mid west Shropshire.

"My concern now is what happens to customers who have the very poor wireless link. This will have damaged the Voneus business case," Kidd said.

"Probably rightly but the existing system needs support and customer care."

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