MORE than 20,000 homes and businesses across Oxfordshire have been given access to high-speed broadband, with another 44,500 due to benefit by December 2015.

The £25m Better Broadband for Oxfordshire programme, which hit the 20,000 landmark on Thursday, will eventually reach more than 90 per cent of premises in the county, BT bosses said.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey visited Sutton Courtenay yesterday, where 1,000 buildings have been linked up to the high-speed network.

Mr Vaizey said: “I think it is fantastic news that superfast broadband has arrived in Sutton Courtenay, delivering fast speeds to local homes and businesses. I think what is great is that there are a lot of villages with businesses where people move for the way of life. With this type of broadband hopefully we can attract more businesses into rural areas.

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“I am delighted that Oxfordshire, and in particular my constituency, has reached this very important stage. Work will continue across the county and the country to ensure that high-speed broadband is rolled out so that we can all benefit.”

Better Broadband for Oxfordshire is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme and is run by Oxfordshire County Council and BT.

Representatives from both attended the launch event at The Nusery with Mr Vaizey.

BT managing director of next generation access Bill Murphy said: “We are hoping for a little over 90 per cent by the end of 2015.

“The biggest challenge is that it is a huge engineering undertaking.

“It is important to work with districts and councils on planning permission and we have hundreds and hundreds of kilometres of fibre set up.

“Our teams are working incredibly hard to ensure as many communities have access to the new technology as quickly as possible.”

And he said Oxford would also benefit from the scheme. He added: “As part of the plan we are expanding into Oxford.

“We are very keen to work with Oxford City Council to improve broadband speeds.

“Oxford city is not a priority but we are going to be doing more there.”

One of the businesses based at The Nursery, Johnson and Co Accountants, was one of the first in the village to connect to high-speed broadband.

Chartered accountant Derek Johnson said: “Our internet speeds have improved from about 6mbps to 69mbps, so there has been an increase of about tenfold.

“We do a lot of web seminars and it is useful for that in particular. It means I do not have to take a day out and go to London.”

 

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