Since Labour came into power in July, it’s been made increasingly obvious that investment into digital infrastructure is high on the party’s priority list. This is something that bOnline strongly welcomes.
On Wednesday 30th October Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled Labour’s first budget (the “Budget”) since the spring of 2010. Reeves opened by committing to “invest, invest, invest” in order to build growth.
In terms of broadband investment, the Budget included £500 million to fund Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network, as well as a package to encourage tech adoption for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The support is centred around two main areas:
Project Gigabit and Shared Rural Network
In the run up to the Budget, there were several rumours that the government wanted to redirect Project Gigabit funding to urban areas, rather than remote rural areas that had previously been targeted. As a result of this, former Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale, supported by 54 other MPs, wrote to the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology asking for information on where the money will be spent and reiterating that rural areas need to be prioritised. However, the government has been clear in reconfirming that £500 million would be used in 2025/26 to fund future digital deployment in Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network.
To give a bit of background, around £1.9 billion has already been spent in rolling out gigabit-capable broadband (fixed line) through Project Gigabit with an additional £750 million allocated to live projects. This is out of a budget of £5 billion, set by the previous government.
The government also provided £500 million for the Shared Rural Network to fix total blackout areas in mobile coverage. These are locations in the UK where there is no mobile signal at all.
Tech adoption for SMEs
The Autumn Budget also brought with it continued support and funding to help SMEs embrace the technology needed to work smarter, not harder. With this in mind, the government will extend the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce and soon reveal details of a £4 million pilots package to support more SMEs’ efforts to go digital. It’s a move that’s expected to be welcomed by small businesses and start-ups across the country, particularly in light of the impending landline shutdown.
You can read the Autumn 2024 Budget in full on the Gov.uk website.
