THOUSANDS of households and businesses across Wyre Forest and surrounding areas are to benefit from superfast broadband.

Superfast Worcestershire, which is a partnership between Worcestershire County Council and BT, are rolling out faster fibre broadband across the county.

The £6.2million programme will see residents in Arley be able to access superfast broadband for the first time.

It will also be more widely in areas that already coverage of the technology including Kidderminster, Blakedown, Chaddesley Corbett, Hartlebury, Harvington, Rock, Wolverley, Great Witley, Clows Top and Belbroughton.

It will start to ‘go live’ from the summer while this expansion is set to be finished by autumn 2017. Once completed, 95 per cent of the county will have access to the technology.

More communities set to receive superfast broadband will be announced later in the year.

The scheme is being funded by £2.39 million each from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme and the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership - through the Government’s Growth Deal - and £1.42m from BT.

Ed Vaizey, Digital Economy Minister, said: "Our roll-out of superfast broadband has already reached an extra 3.5 million premises so far, and around 50,000 in Worcestershire alone. We're on track to reach 95 per cent of the country by 2017, and I'm delighted that the extra funding means another 8,000 homes and businesses in Worcestershire will be able to access superfast speeds."

Councillor Ken Pollock, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills & Infrastructure, said: "I am very pleased to hear that these communities will benefit from this extra broadband roll-out being announced today.

"More homes and businesses in these areas will now be able to access improved broadband speeds more quickly. This is great news to ensure that we remain competitive and ensure that Worcestershire continues to be a world class place to do business."

Gary Woodman, Executive Director of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “This technology is vital to ensure that our businesses can compete on a global scale. Extending the availability of Superfast Broadband was, therefore, prioritised for funding through the

“Worcestershire Growth Deal and today’s announcement is great news for a number of communities. I would encourage all businesses and residents to register to be kept updated so that they can sign up to obtain faster broadband speeds at the earliest opportunity.”

Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director of next generation access, said: "We are committed to extending the reach of faster fibre broadband further so even households and businesses in some of the most remote parts of the county will be able to benefit.

“It’s a huge engineering programme, but our project teams are working hard to ensure more communities can reap the benefits of this exciting technology, which is revolutionising the way people work, learn, pay their bills, and enjoy their leisure time. Everything is easier, faster and better with fibre broadband.”

People can find out more about the programme by visiting www.superfastworcestershire.com