Almost every home in the Burton area will be able to connect to super-fast broadband by the end of next year thanks to a new multi-million pound scheme.
The broadband roll-out programme will see a total of £645 million being spent nationally over the coming years to help take super-fast internet services to the most remote and hard to reach places in the UK, including difficult to reach homes in Burton, thanks to Government cash.
It is estimated that more than 900,000 extra UK homes and businesses will have access to super-fast broadband speeds, with cover to 98 per cent of the nation over the next few years. The broadband scheme will be implemented in the area by Staffordshire Count Council.
The county council's economic growth leader Mark Winnington said: "The additional funding for local broadband programmes is a welcome one and could well support the connection of even more properties in Staffordshire.
"Our Superfast Staffordshire programme has been a huge success – enabling 70,000 properties to connect to fibre broadband so far.
"The national programme requires suppliers to recycle funding when people take up connection as a result of the scheme. In Staffordshire we have among the highest take-ups in the Midlands at close to 40 per cent – providing people with greater opportunities and supporting our programme to expand further.
"We will continue to make every effort to find solutions to connect the remaining four per cent of properties."
By the end of 2018, 96 per cent of properties in Staffordshire will be able to connect to fibre broadband as a result of the Superfast Staffordshire programme and commercial provision.
Superfast connections of 24Mbps and above allow families to watch TV on multiple devices at the same time, or let children do homework while parents do online banking and shopping. The technology is ideal for many small businesses too, allowing bosses to run websites and buy and sell online.
This latest announcement comes hot on the heels of recent Government action to improve broadband speeds in the most remote places in the UK.
The government subsidised roll-out has now reached more than 4.5 million premises around the UK, and new figures show more than two million homes and businesses have now signed up for super-fast connections in areas where the government has invested in broadband.
