Churches offer broadband hope to hard to reach rural areas

The Government is turning to the Church as part of its plans to roll out faster broadband connections to remote rural areas of the UK.

The Church of England has offered the use of its 16,000 churches so broadband satellites can be fixed to their steeples in locations where installing the usual wire cable connections is proving to be difficult. It’s hoped the innovative approach will help the Government meet its pledge to bring superfast connections to 95 per cent of homes and businesses.

Digital and Culture Minister, Matt Hancock, told the Daily Telegraph: “Nine out of 10 UK homes and businesses can now get superfast broadband, but getting to the hardest to reach places requires an innovative approach and a mix of technologies.

“We're working with the church to explore how spires might form part of the mix and I am meeting with bishops later this month to discuss this.”

He will initially meet with the Rt Revd Martin Seeley, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, to discuss the proposals. The idea initially came from MP and Second Church Estates Commissioner, Caroline Spelman, who wrote to the Digital and Culture Department to suggest using church steeples to increase rural broadband coverage.

The high position of the steeples means that it will be cheaper and easier to use satellites to beam broadband into areas where the landscape has proved challenging to install the usual cables. Most rural areas have a church, including many of the hardest to reach locations.

After meeting with church leaders, ministers will be looking at creating a model legal contract which can be used with churches around the country that sign up to the scheme.

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