NORTH Tawton and Moretonhampstead area are set to benefit from high-speed fibre broadband by the end of March, Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) has announced.

CDS confirmed this week the next 25 communities to benefit from the £94 million programme to bring superfast broadband to rural areas.

Last month, the programme announced that it would make high-speed fibre broadband available to 70,000 homes and businesses by the end of July and revealed the names of the latest exchange areas to be included in the CDS roll-out plans.

Now it has been able to go one step further and pinpoint the actual communities within those exchange areas, which will benefit.

This week's announcement comes as a result of detailed survey work to see how the roll-out plan takes shape through the life of the programme.

The new locations follow 19 exchange areas, including Exeter, Holsworthy, Okehampton, Kennford, Crediton, Hatherleigh and Newton St Cyres, where the partnership has already made fibre available and a further seven areas (including Moretonhampstead, Christow, North Tawton and Longdown) which are due to "go live" by the end of March.

Alongside the private sector's commercial roll-out, the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme aims to make superfast broadband speeds of 24Mbps and above available to around 90 per cent of homes and businesses by the end of 2016. It also plans to ensure a minimum of 2Mbps for all premises within the programme area.

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, cabinet member for economy and growth for Devon County Council, said: "With the recent weather highlighting the weaknesses in our critical infrastructure, superfast broadband has become even more essential to ensure that our businesses remain competitive and our economy continues to grow.

"Superfast broadband can dramatically alter how we work – opening up homeworking and other measures to improve efficiency and enable rural communities and businesses to continue to function in all but the most extreme circumstances."

FUNDING

In addition, the government has announced that it has set aside an extra £22.75 million of new money to help the area get connected to superfast broadband.

Mel Stride, Central Devon MP has welcomed the announcement.

He said it was the most awarded to any region in the country and nearly 10 per cent of the £250 million of extra funding being made available nationally.

He explained that this funding is on top of the £1.2 billion already invested, as part the Government's programme to roll-out superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the country by 2017.

Already, 10,000 homes and businesses are being connected up to superfast broadband each week and this will rise to 40,000 by the summer.

Mel said: "Too many families in Devon have been unable to enjoy the full benefits of the internet and businesses have been prevented from properly competing in the world because of a lack of fast, reliable internet connections.

"Every additional home connected up to superfast broadband means one more family who will be able to enjoy the full benefits of the internet and every extra business connected will be one more that can compete more effectively in the global market."

Alan Quick