Free Broadband Vouchers

Many UK businesses as well as individuals are unaware that they could be getting grant funding to help reduce the costs of their broadband service or even free broadband internet connections. The government Broadband Voucher as well as Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme might help you to save money. For the rural cities, which also need more investment, the local council governments can seek funding from the Broadband for Rural Communities, which will help them pay for fiber service.

What are the Broadband Voucher Schemes?
The Broadband Voucher Scheme is a grant available for small and medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), charities and social enterprises. It was set up by the government in 2013 to provide financial grants to businesses looking to upgrade their broadband lines. The other option is the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, and this was created in 2018. In 2019 the central government wanted outlying area to get help too, and that scheme is the Broadband for Rural Communities programme.

Why were the voucher schemes set up?
The voucher scheme is part of a wider government investment in broadband infrastructure in the UK, and was set up by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the gigabit programme was created by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. The government hopes that by putting billions of pounds into modern technology, they can help the UK become one of the top countries in Europe for broadband communications in both cities as well as rural towns and villages.

The aim behind the investment is to support the UK economy, particularly in the current climate as the country tries to make its way out of several years of slow growth and recessionary periods and as the country prepares for Brexit. The voucher scheme is designed to encourage businesses to invest in their broadband, by upgrading their existing lines to faster, more reliable solutions. An aim is to also get more businesses to be on a one gigabit scheme.

By doing so, the government hopes it can help support businesses in becoming more competitive both in the domestic market and also when trading internationally. Broadband communication is a core part of today’s business world, so companies need to have the best technology available to them.

The scheme will also help support the IT market, by creating demand for upgrade work to be carried out by major telecommunications and broadband providers. The government hopes that they can support existing jobs and even create new jobs in these areas, through the subsidy to small businesses.

How much is the grant worth?
The scheme provides a single grant to businesses that meet their criteria, and businesses can claim for a voucher in the region of up to £2500 towards the total cost of upgrading their broadband line.

What areas of the UK are covered by the voucher scheme?
The voucher scheme is being rolled out to dozens of major cities in the UK: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Derry / Londonderry, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Newport, Oxford, Perth, Portsmouth, Salford and York. Rural communities and businesses can also try to get up to one gigabit download scheme.

What are the timescales for applying?
Businesses from any of the cities or rural area is the UK can now make an application for the voucher. To get details on the application process, call your service provider.

Are you eligible to receive the voucher?
The voucher is currently only open to SME businesses as well as communities and councils. To be classified as an SME, your business must have fewer than 250 employees, and have an annual turnover not exceeding 40 million Euros (this is the EC-wide classification). The scheme is also available to charities and for not-for-profit social enterprises.

Businesses are only eligible to apply for the funding if they have received less than £120,000 in government grants over the past three years. As part of the application, businesses as well as local communities must demonstrate they will be using the voucher to pay for a broadband upgrade that will give them speeds of 30Mbps or higher. Or the gigabit scheme, businesses or local communities must have speeds up to 1Mbps.

Your business must hold a registered address in one of the cities that are running the scheme. This does not have to be the business headquarters. The voucher must be used towards the set up costs as part of the line upgrade or paying for a one gigabit service. It cannot be used for any ongoing costs, such as line rental. You can only use a supplier who is registered with the scheme. A list of 45 suppliers is available on the government’s Connection Voucher scheme website.

Will the voucher scheme be expanded in future?
If the scheme is successful, it has the potential to help the overall UK economy grow as well as help pay for gigabit fiber in rural communities as well as cities. One option available to the government is to expand the reach of the voucher scheme by increasing the funding as well as making it available to other geographical areas of the UK, rather than the current list. It could be made available to businesses operating in smaller cities, towns and even rural areas.

Applying for free broadband vouchers
The central government funds it. They can also process applications. Or learn more at a council. https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/