BT ahead of schedule with Cornwall fibre broadband project

BT has announced fibre optic broadband will be delivered to nine east Cornwall communities sooner than expected as part of its Superfast Cornwall project.

Residents and businesses in Liskeard, Callington, Launceston, Dobwalls, Bude, Kilkhampton, Marhamchurch, Drakewalls and North Hill will be able to access the service by December, at least three months earlier than was initially planned.

This is just the beginning of the rollout, with 90,000 properties set to be connected to the technology by the end of March 2012.

When the project is finished, BT engineers will have deployed 130,000km of fibre optic cables and upgraded around 100 telephone exchanges in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Chris Ridgers, portfolio holder for economy and regeneration for Cornwall Council, said: "This is great news - it will give local businesses a much-deserved boost and help the economy of south-east Cornwall at a crucial time of the year."

BT is aiming to deploy super-fast broadband to half of all telephone exchanges in Cornwall by autumn 2012.