MP demands action over delayed broadband connections
Helen Morgan MP has called on the Government to honour its commitment and deliver full-fibre connections to North Shropshire as soon as possible.
It comes after Freedom Fibre’s contract with the Government to connect 12,000 homes in North Shropshire was terminated earlier this year after just 2,500 properties (21%) were connected.
The Government department responsible for the project is still planning to roll out high-speed connections in Shropshire but the MP wants this to happen much faster.
Helen’s latest meeting with BDUK took place this week, when the MP was warned that some premises which should have been connected under the cancelled Freedom Fibre contract may now not get full-fibre broadband until 2030.
BDUK had initially promised that a replacement provider for the failed contract would be found but is now investigating a variety of different delivery methods.
The details of which areas will benefit when are yet to be confirmed but the roll-out may not complete until 2030 – a delay that Helen Morgan has branded “unacceptable”.
The MP, who chairs a cross-party Parliamentary group investigating connectivity issues, has pledged to do all that she can to speed up the process and ensure that rural residents are not left behind as broadband companies prioritise faster, urban connections.
Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said: “The delay to the roll-out of high-speed broadband to North Shropshire is unacceptable.
“Families and businesses who were promised full fibre under Project Gigabit cannot afford to wait until 2030. The Government must honour its commitment and deliver these connections as soon as possible.
“Once again rural areas are being left behind by a government that does not understand the reality of living with patchy mobile signal and snail-paced broadband.”
