Levelling up push sees more than 5,000 public buildings plugged into high-speed broadband

More than 5,000 public buildings–including schools, hospitals and libraries–have been connected to high-speed broadband thanks to a United Kingdom Government scheme to level up public services. 1,200 schools, 340 libraries and 50 hospitals across UK are among those connected to gigabit-speed broadband. The upgrades, made possible by a £164 million UK government investment, will drive up productivity in public services, create better experiences for people who use them and encourage broadband companies to easily extend the network to thousands of surrounding homes and businesses which will boost the government’s national mission to grow the economy and create new jobs. The news comes as the government calls on broadband companies to submit bids to connect approximately 190,000 hard-to-reach premises in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cornwall as part of Project Gigabit–the biggest government-funded broadband roll out ever seen in the UK–with work set to kick off in these regions from January 2023. The future-proof connections delivered by Project Gigabit will fire up the economy by injecting a £60 billion boost to productivity.