Gigabit Voucher Scheme
Vouchers worth £3,500 for businesses help to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband.
A gigabit future is closer than you think
The Government is providing up to £210m worth of voucher funding as immediate help for people experiencing slow broadband speeds in rural areas.
Vouchers worth up to £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses help to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband to people’s doorsteps.
The government is committed to delivering lightning-fast, reliable gigabit-capable broadband to everyone in the UK as soon as possible, working hard with broadband providers to accelerate their commercial development plans.
For hard to reach areas where broadband is more costly to build, the government is investing £5 billion to ensure places are not left behind.
The rollout to hard to reach areas of the UK will be subsidised by government contracts, awarded to broadband providers over the next few years, until the whole of the UK is connected.
What is a gigabit connection?
For the fastest and most reliable broadband, capable of delivering gigabit speeds, a full-fibre connection is required. One gigabit is the same as 1,000 megabits – so it’s a big leap forward in connection speeds that could benefit you into the future. Gigabit-capable broadband also supports symmetrical connections – meaning your upload and download speeds can be the same.
Check the map on the right.
(Viewable only on desktop computers)
- Blue pins show vouchers in phase 1 of the scheme that is now closed for new applications
- Yellow pins show vouchers in phase 2 of the scheme in rural postcodes that is still open to applications
- Green pins show vouchers in postcodes that include both of the above. (Clicking on the green pins tells you how many connected and issued vouchers there are for each scheme).
Who is eligible?
Businesses in rural locations which meet the following criteria can use vouchers to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections when part of a group project.
- Existing broadband speeds are less than 100Mbps
- A gigabit capable network isn’t likely to be built to that area commercially in the near future
- There is no government-funded contract planned or in place to improve the network already
Group projects are when two or more residents and/or eligible businesses get together to combine their vouchers towards the shared cost of installation. Single connections are not eligible for the scheme. Projects will also be subject to BDUK commercial and value for money assessments.
Your new connection speed must reach:
- At least double your existing speed if your current speed is less than 50Mbps
- At least 100Mbps if your current speed is more than 50Mbps
Business Eligibility
In order to qualify for a business voucher you will be asked to self-certify that you are an Small or Medium size Enterprise (SME), as defined by sections 465 to 467 of the Companies Act 2006 which can be summarised as:
- Up to 249 employees and annual turnover no greater than £36 million; and/or
- An annual balance sheet total not exceeding £18 million.
You will be asked to provide evidence of your status as a SME or sole trader. You will also have to self-certify that the organisation will have received less than 325,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in public grants over any period of three fiscal years including the current year, including the voucher contribution.
The Special Drawing Rights amount has replaced the €200,000 de minimis grant limit following the UK’s exit from the European Union on the 31st December 2020.
Not-for-profit and charitable undertakings which qualify as SMEs are eligible in the same way that for-profit enterprises are.
Why work with Yoozoom?
300+ five-star reviews (and counting!)
At Yoozoom, we’ve got decades of experience offering industry-leading IT services, internet connections, VoIP phone systems, to all-year-round IT support.
We reckon we’re the best in the business – but don’t take our word for it. We’ve got more than 300 five-star Google reviews to prove it. This makes us among the highest-rated IT service providers in the UK.
Why all the happy clients? We like to think it’s because we treat them like they treat their own customers. Because we go the extra mile to ensure their IT systems add value to their business and make problems go away so fast, they hardly notice they’re there.
We’re not here to toot our own trumpet. But 300+ five-star reviews can’t be wrong…
So go ahead - check your eligibility for the business gigabit voucher scheme by filling in the form below and one of our experts will get in touch.
