North Yorkshire County Council faced with spending up to £3,000 per property to connect isolated homes to superfast broadband
Although 97 per cent of properties in the target coverage area will soon be able to access superfast fibre speeds, the cost of connecting up some of the most isolated villages has risen by over £1,000 per property since the NYCC scheme began in 2010.
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Hide AdThe council's leading members hailed the achievement, for which it has prioritised funding over the last decade amid government funding cuts, as they approved the investment of a further £12.5million to provide connectivity to thousands more remote properties.
A meeting of the authority's executive heard it was within days of signing a contract with a provider to launch the fourth phase of the drive it launched in 2010, which would bring the proportion of superfast broadband properties up from 92 per cent.
Concerns that the county was being left in the internet slow lane were mounting in 2009, when the then-Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh said "broadband not-spots are an unacceptable relic of the past".
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Hide AdSome two years later government figures revealed some of the country's worst internet blackspots included the Richmond and Thirsk and Malton constituencies, where 39.9 and 38 per cent of properties respectively did not have superfast broadband. In stark contrast, only 3.1 per cent of properties in neighbouring Darlington and 125 properties or 0.1 per cent in the Middlesbrough constituency lacked superfast broadband.
The authority's executive member for access, Coun Don Mackenzie, told the executive meeting to address the issue the county council had invested almost £100million in the county's digital infrastructure, connecting up more than 180,000 business and domestic premises to high quality broadband, leading to the latest 97 per cent of properties target.
He said: "I consider that a remarkable achievement in the country's largest and one of the most rural counties."
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Hide AdMembers of the committee enthused about the initiative, saying it was fantastic that people living in very remote areas such as parts of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks were now enjoying very fast connection speeds.
Councillor Greg White added: "If we are going to keep our population healthy and well we need to keep them connected."
The authority's leader Coun Carl Les said the cost of connections had risen from about £100 a property when the authority started the superfast process to about £1,400 a property now, but costs could be up to £3,000 for the most difficult to reach homes.
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Hide AdHe said digital connectivity had become even more important to people’s lives since the Covid-19 pandemic, as more turned online to keep in touch, carry on working and learning and keep businesses accessible.
Coun Les said: "Ideally we would love to get to 100 per cent of properties connected to superfast broadband because it is now as important to people as electricity and water. There will come a point when the last one, two or three per cent of properties will be just so difficult to get to we won't be able to connect them."
The increased fibre broadband coverage will mean many more properties will be able to access 5G technology, the planned successor to the 4G phone networks, if operators also install masts.
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Hide AdThe 5G technology is viewed as key to tackling the connectivity issues across a third of the county which lacks of 4G mobile coverage, with many rural communities still struggling to keep connected because of the lack of digital infrastructure.
As part of a £6million government scheme, residents of Coverdale, and later of Arkengarthdale, will being given the opportunity to be involved in testing the latest 5G technology.
As the project progresses, a 5G phone network will be added giving residents the chance to test new technology to find out how the latest wireless technology can further enhance their future.