A major investment into Greater Manchester’s digital infrastructure has brought economic benefits of almost £12 million in its first year.
The £23.8 million Local Full Fibre Networks Programme, a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) plan to deliver 2,700 km of fibre optic broadband infrastructure has now been substantially completed with a recent report indicating the programme has brought £11.8 million of overall local economic benefits to the city-region in its first year.
Work was carried out by Virgin Media Business after the firm entered into a partnership with GMCA in early 2020. Virgin Media Business staff have used volunteer days throughout the pandemic to support residents in Greater Manchester, as well as the company contributing to the Greater Manchester Technology Fund’s work to support digitally excluded young people to access home schooling.
The investment into Greater Manchester’s digital infrastructure means that hundreds of public sites can now benefit from improved connection speeds from next-generation full fibre internet. Gigabit connections in the city have now been switched on, giving Virgin Media customers access to average download speeds of over 1,000 Mbps.
Cllr Sean Fielding, GMCA Lead for Employment, Skills and Digital, said:
The Local Full Fibre Network programme demonstrates services designed to serve the majority as well as our future generations. Our people should be able to benefit from everything that being part of a digital city region brings.
“This programme will future proof our connectivity for the next 30 years and supports the work we are doing in Greater Manchester to make public sector services more efficient and sets a standard to better ways of doing.”
Estimates of the work’s economic benefits are based on the Greater Manchester Forecasting Model. The scheme drew 75% of its workforce behind the delivery from Greater Manchester, also helping to support jobs in the city-region.