Gigabit Voucher Scheme – Now or never

Boris Johnson has made a big play of committing the UK Government to faster broadband for every home and business in the country. However he failed to mention that the Government is already investing £63 Million in helping SMEs benefit from Ultra high speed internet through its Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.

In fact over 7000 businesses have benefitted so far and we are not talking of low cost ordinary contended fibre broadband services but from super reliable, dedicated services capable of supporting 1 Gigabit right into their premises.

As installing these services this often involves pulling fibre cables, new building entry or even digging up roads, the installation costs of £2000-£2500 have previously been prohibitive for many smaller businesses in particular.

The Government scheme in effect pays for works required, up to £2500, to install the new fibre and is surprisingly sensible and well thought out.

For example, there is no requirement for a company to take a full 1 Gigabit connection from day one – only that the underlying line is able to support such speeds. So companies may start with, say, 100 Mb, benefit from the installation subsidy and upgrade at any time in the future. The scheme neatly allows companies such as Interface Advantage to submit service packages for Preregistration so we are able to apply for the grant on behalf of customers, so eliminating the bureaucracy often associated with government subsidies. All of our LiquidE services are eligible and Pre registered.

Finally the impact of the scheme has been to stimulate the market for these types of connections, so the monthly rentals have fallen significantly. For example a full 1 Gb circuit will be 25-30% cheaper per month than it was 18 months ago.

The net result is usually a totally free installation, lower rental charges and in-built future proofing as the connections speed may be increased at any time in the future.

If your turnover is less than €50M and you have fewer than 250 employees and have received less than €200 Millions of public grants in the last three years then will almost certainly qualify.

It’s not often that the Government offers something for nothing, but already 2/3^rd of the funding is committed (spent) so it’s likely that the scheme will be closed before the planned date of 2021.

To discuss your eligibility and how the scheme would work in your situation please contact us.

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