MOORE residents are being urged to seize the chance to secure ultrafast broadband.

Openreach is warning that the community risks missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime full fibre upgrade if they don’t apply for free government broadband vouchers.

Remote rural communities in Moore are now within reach of ultrafast technology thanks to  funding through the Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and the deployment of new broadband signal boosting technology.

Openreach has identified the village as being within scope for Full Fibre and is urging local people to take the next step by applying for and pooling together free Government Gigabit Vouchers to help fund the build.

If enough people sign up, the village will join more than 225,000 homes and businesses across the county that already have access to full-fibre broadband.

Residents can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.

Using the vouchers, which don’t cost residents anything, enables Openreach to work with a local community to build a customised, co-funded network.

The vouchers can be combined to extend the ultrafast, ultra-reliable network to premises in outlying rural areas which won’t be covered by private investment.

Paul Harland, Openreach’s regional engagement manager, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for the people of Moore to bring all the benefits of ultrafast, ultra-reliable full-fibre broadband to their community.

“Our Fibre Community Partnership programme has meant that we’ve been able to potentially bring hundreds more communities across the UK, into our Full Fibre build plans. But building out the network to these harder-to-reach locations is still challenging – which is why its only possible with everyone working together  – you, your neighbours and Openreach.

“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make Moore one of the best-connected places in the UK.”

Once the pledge target for the scheme is reached, residents need to ensure they then validate their vouchers with the Government so that Openreach can confirm that building work can get underway.

As part of the funding conditions, residents are asked to commit to ordering a full fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available and to confirm that they are connected.