Thousands of rural homes and businesses in north Norfolk have been earmarked to get full-fibre broadband built in their communities.
East of England provider County Broadband has added 15 villages including Mundesley, Brampton and Southrepps to its rollout of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure which provides access to faster speeds and better reliability.
Duncan Baker, North Norfolk MP, welcomed the announcement and said the project aims to "deliver the digital infrastructure that North Norfolk sorely needs".
The FTTP infrastructure is replacing part-copper 'Superfast' networks which have been declared unfit for purpose by the government.
Full-fibre delivers cables directly into premises to provide gigabit speeds (1,000 Mbps) that are around 11 times faster than the UK average and can been upgraded to 10,000+Mbps in the future.
The villages earmarked in the rollout are: Antingham, Bacton, Brampton, Burgh and Tuttington, Colby, Felmingham, Gimingham, Knapton, Mundesley, Paston, Skeyton, Southrepps, Swafield, Swanton Abbott, and Trunch.
Over the coming weeks, County Broadband’s community teams will be meeting with residents and businesses in each village to explain the rollout plans in more detail and help secure local support.
Mr Baker said: “I am really excited to have met with County Broadband to hear more about their full-fibre project and the opportunity to deliver the digital infrastructure that North Norfolk sorely needs.
“The pandemic has pushed more things online and while it is important we get back to doing things in person, we need to make sure that North Norfolk keeps pace with digital improvements and having good networks is key to that."
James Salmon, director of sales and new territories at County Broadband, said: “Our new full-fibre infrastructure will allow residents and families the flexibility to continue to develop and grow their internet use whether they are holding simultaneous online meetings working from home, streaming films and sport in 4K, or just being able to connect dozens of devices in their homes.”
Residents and businesses can find out if they are covered in the rollout by entering their postcode at www.countybroadband.co.uk.
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