West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has backed a number of initiatives to help rural communities to get connected to superfast internet connections. The Department for Digital, Communications, Media and Sport has written to Harriett outlining its plans to help smaller rural communities benefit from faster connections. These include a taskforce to make it easier to deliver fibre connectivity, trials on the new 5G mobile phone technology and more detail on the Universal Service Obligation which guarantees people the right to request at least a 10 Mbits/second service. The Department also has shared more detail on how to help people who currently have a slow connection to get better broadband by using satellite or wireless technology to boost their download speeds. Grants are available for businesses and communities who want to club together to get fast fibre connections and more information has been published on the Department’s website – www.gov.uk/dcms. Harriett commented: “I have worked hard to ensure that superfast broadband reaches as many parts of rural Worcestershire as possible and the county council has worked hard to upgrade cabinets and allow people to connect when they need. “There are still small areas of West Worcestershire that still can’t get decent connections and DCMS has published details of a range of schemes to help fix this problem. “The important message to share it that there are schemes available to help businesses and rural communities to club together to get connected and I encourage people who are still struggling with slow speeds to talk to the county council to get help or visit the DCMS website.”