Residents of Marazion are being urged to get behind a bid to bring full fibre broadband to the coastal town by taking advantage of a government-backed token scheme.

Openreach is hoping that residents and businesses will consider pooling Gigabit broadband vouchers, available from the UK Government, to help build a new, gigabit-capable network, where fibre-optic cables are run directly from the exchange all the way to each property they serve.

Residents who don’t already have access to a 100mbps broadband service can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.

To claim the vouchers, which contribute towards the cost of building the new network, residents are being asked to commit to ordering a full-fibre service from a provider of their choice (albeit using the Openreach network) for at least 12 months once the new network is available.

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Connie Dixon, Openreach’s Partnership Director for the South West, claimed that “this is a really exciting opportunity for the community of Marazion to bring Full Fibre infrastructure to their town.

“Thousands of homes and businesses across Cornwall can already upgrade to the Openreach Full Fibre network and local people can use our online postcode checker to see what’s now available.

“We’re investing £12 billion to build full fibre broadband to 20 million homes – and more than three million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK – but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone.

“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make Marazion one of the best-connected places in the South West.

"Pledging couldn’t be simpler, but we need residents to act quickly – as the scheme closes in March 2021.”

Derek Thomas, MP for St Ives, West Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly, backed the initiative, saying “Now, more than ever, coastal communities need fantastic connectivity to fully interact with the world.

“Full fibre technology will make a massive difference to local homes and businesses and I urge residents to consider pledging their Gigabit broadband vouchers for the common good and help us to make sure that nobody’s left behind.”