PERSHORE’s MP Harriett Baldwin has welcomed the launch of a £67million voucher scheme to help them get faster internet connections.
The scheme, confirmed by the Chancellor in his Spring Statement earlier this month, will allow small and medium sized businesses to get a £3,000 voucher to help connect to superfast internet across Worcestershire.
Mrs Baldwin has campaigned for many years to improve connections for homes and business across her rural West Worcestershire constituency and urged Worcestershire County Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership to work towards making is easier for all local homes and businesses to access download speeds of at least one gigabit.
“Many homes and businesses across the county are already able to access very fast internet connections and I continue to urge people to sign up for the best possible service to allow Superfast Worcestershire to continue to invest in rural roll-out programmes.
“This and other voucher schemes are helping the more rural areas – many of them in my own constituency – who will only be able to access very fast internet speeds by clubbing together.
“I encourage businesses to get in touch with the county council to find out more information on this voucher scheme and will be suggesting to some of the more rural not-spot areas that this could be another way to get the right connectivity.”
“We have some areas already have very good connections in West Worcestershire and I would hope with schemes like this and the trialling of the new fifth generation mobile technology we can get closer towards our ambition to make Worcestershire a ‘gig county’ with the best possible internet connectivity.”
Homeowners can also access the scheme if they are part of a wider scheme to upgrade a local small business meaning rural areas can pool resources to get superfast connections.
