Maldon MP Sir John Whittingdale was in talks this week with the Telecoms Minister about delivering faster internet speeds across the Maldon Constituency.

Sir John met with the Minister for Data and Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant MP, to discuss progress in achieving universal coverage of Gigabit Broadband across the area.

Under Project Gigabit, Openreach has agreed a £61.3 million contract to deliver fast reliable broadband to an additional 27,200 premises in North East England and Essex. The build has begun and the programme will last five years. 

Approximately 2,300 premises in the Maldon constituency are set to benefit including ones in Bradwell, Tillingham, Asheldham, Althorne, Mayland, and East Hanningfield.  

Sir John said: "Having had Ministerial responsibility for Project Gigabit under the last Government, I am delighted that availability of Gigabit broadband has increased from 6 per cent in 2019 to nearly 70 per cent today.

"This new contract will extend this further, benefitting some of the hardest-to-reach premises in villages in the Dengie Peninsula and elsewhere."

Gigabit internet will deliver download speeds of up to 1Gbps, the equivalent of 1,000Mbps. These kinds of speeds can typically only be available in locations with 'full fibre' connections.

The faster download speeds will mean greater and smoother streaming, online gaming, and working from home .