BT extends fibre broadband to more Cornish communities

Nine more Cornish communities have been connected to BT's fibre optic broadband service as part of the Superfast Cornwall project.

High-speed internet access is now available to the first homes and businesses in Truro, Liskeard, Launceston, Bude, Falmouth, Marazion, North Hill, Marhamchurch and Dobwalls, three months ahead of the company's original schedule.

Further locations, including Callington and Drakewalls, are due to be connected later this month, while around 90,000 properties are set to be hooked up to fibre broadband by the end of March 2012.

Some 130,000km of fibre optic cables will be laid during the Superfast Cornwall scheme and 100 telephone exchanges are in line to be upgraded.

Nigel Ashcroft, programme director of Superfast Cornwall for Cornwall Development Company, said: "This is another very important step forward in the development of an initiative vital to the future prosperity of Cornwall."

By the end of 2014, BT is aiming to connect two-thirds of UK properties to its fibre broadband service.