Across rural areas of England, Wales, and Scotland, 312,000 homes and businesses are set to be upgraded to 'lightning' fast broadband, although the timeline for delivery remains uncertain.
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has announced today that it will invest £800 million to overhaul Britain's old infrastructure.
An agreement has already been signed with telecoms provider Openreach to bring gigabit-capable broadband to 96,000 homes across the UK.
Deals to cover a further 215,800 premises are currently under negotiation and are expected to be announced within the coming months.
According to DSIT, this announcement is the first step in a 'renewed push' to reach full gigabit coverage across the UK by 2030.
The government's 'Project Gigabit' initiative, which was first unveiled in 2020, aims to bring superfast 'gigabit-capable' broadband connection to underserved rural areas.
A 'gigabit-capable' connection is one that allows a gigabit of data to be downloaded every second - fast enough to download a high-definition film in under one minute.
As of January this year, 19 per cent of the country lacked gigabit-capable reliable broadband connections.
Most of the areas still lacking gigabit connection were in hard-to-reach rural areas where residents still lacked the connectivity required for even basic internet use.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle says: 'Over the past decade, the UK's broadband rollout has clearly not happened fast enough and has overlooked too many areas, especially in Scotland and Wales.'
This latest investment will specifically target the rural areas missed by previous rounds of development.
This includes areas in rural Wales, which has never been included in any previous broadband upgrade plans.
Mr Kyle says: 'We are fixing this by delivering for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses up and down the country, focusing on the areas that were not prioritised by the previous government, such as Wales.'
The government has already signed contracts worth £288 million to cover areas in Lancashire, North Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire, West and Mid-Surrey, Staffordshire, West Berkshire and Hertfordshire, West and North Devon, and North West, Mid and South East Wales.