CityFibre has begun work to connect more than 50,000 homes and businesses across rural areas of Kent to full fibre broadband as part of a £112m Project Gigabit award, helping boost connectivity to residents.
Wessex Internet has begun connecting premises in the New Forest to fibre through its £14m Project Gigabit contract.
Martin in Hampshire is the first network build completed by the altnet, with Gillian and Jeff Bailey the first residents to be connected.
Once complete the network will be available to more than 10,500 properties in rural villages across the New Forest.
Jez Allman, CCO at Wessex Internet, said: “The upgrades will help grow the economy, create jobs and deliver long-term change for a brighter future by making it easier for rural communities to access to networks designed to meet people’s needs for decades.
“It’s great to be working with the community and the government to provision ultrafast broadband into people’s homes and businesses so that they can benefit more fully from the Internet of Things (IoT).”