Tees Valley Combined Authority has announced a £1.2 million investment in the Digital Durham programme to provide full fibre broadband to the region.
It said the money, along with £2.3 million from network provider Openreach, should provide more than 3,000 homes and businesses with faster connectivity by the end of June 2021.
The £38 million Digital Durham programme, led by Durham County Council and Openreach, is a partnership between 10 of the 12 authorities in the North-East and the UK Government. To date more than 110,000 premises have been connected across the programme area, including thousands in the Tees Valley.
A number of premises in Stockton-on-Tees have already been upgraded. Many more homes and businesses in the boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland are also set to receive full fibre infrastructure.
Need for speed
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “If we are going to support our innovators, job creators, entrepreneurs and risk takers then we need to make sure they have access to high speed, reliable internet connections no matter where they are in Teesside, Darlington or Hartlepool.
“I look forward to seeing the number of households and businesses suffering from poor internet connections in the Tees Valley reduced.”
In addition to the Tees Valley roll out, Digital Durham is also carrying out a procurement exercise to potentially contract for better connectivity across other authorities in the partnership meaning that across the area, many more businesses and residences could be set to benefit from better connectivity in the future.
Image: Ben Houchen with Broadband Minister Matt Warman
