Project Gigabit

Project Gigabit is a £5bn government infrastructure project to enable and deliver fast, reliable digital connectivity for the UK. The prime objective of the programme is to deliver gigabit broadband to those areas of the country that are commercially unviable for broadband infrastructure suppliers to build to without public funding.

Previous broadband infrastructure procurements were undertaken by Shropshire Council, but Building Digital UK (BDUK) is now responsible for procurements, contracts and supplier management, not Shropshire Council. BDUK is an executive agency, sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology. 

For project Gigabit updates, please visit the Gov.UK website.

The main Project Gigabit initiatives that impact Shropshire are: 

Procurements 

In July 2022 BDUK launched two procurements in Shropshire.  

Lot 25.01 Mid-West Shropshire 

  • 6,089 premises (all in the Shropshire Council area) 
  • Subsidy available £12,030,000 (£1,976 per premise) 
  • In April 2024, this contract was awarded to Voneus.
  • In December 2024, BDUK and Voneus mutually agreed to terminate the contract for Mid-West Shropshire. Voneus did not received any public funding for this contract
  • In October 2025, BDUK agreed a contract change with Openreach to include 4,800 premises in this area into the existing Lot 25C contract

Lot 25.02 North Shropshire 

  • 12,277 premises (10,752 in the Shropshire Council area) 
  • Subsidy available £24,042,000 (£1,958 per premise) 
  • In May 2023, this contract was awarded to Freedom Fibre. Please email queries to Freedom Fibre at: careline@freedomfibre.com 
  • In June 2025, owing to changes in the external market, BDUK and Freedom Fibre mutually agreed to descope 8,500 premises from the contract
  • BDUK is working to put in place alternative solutions for premises in North Shropshire that require support from Project Gigabit to gain access to a full-fibre broadband network.

Lot 25C East, South & Mid West Shropshire

  • In January 2024 BDUK signed a framework agreement with Openreach to provide hard-to-reach premises in East & South Shropshire with access to full-fibre broadband
  • An amount of preparatory and planning work is required to reach premises (for example, digging trenches and installing new poles) before a full-fibre broadband connection can be ordered
  • The first premises under this contract are expected to have access to a full-fibre broadband connection in March 2026, with final completion by 2032
  • In October 2025, BDUK agreed a contract change with Openreach to include 4,800 premises in mid-west Shropshire into this contract

Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme 

For more information, please take a look at our voucher scheme page.