Fibre broadband rolled out to first Burnham-on-Sea homes

The first homes and businesses in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset can now access fibre optic broadband.

BT has brought the technology to more than 4,000 local properties as part of its national rollout, with this figure set to rise to over 10,500 over the coming weeks.

Burnham-on-Sea becomes the latest Somerset community to benefit from BT's commercial deployment, with the service already available in locations such as Bridgwater, Glastonbury, Weston-super-Mare, Worle, Taunton, Bath and Yeovil.

Approximately 226,000 premises across Somerset - and around 1.5 million throughout the south-west - will be connected to fibre optic broadband by the end of 2014.

Jon Reynolds, the telecoms giant's regional director for the south-west, said super-fast connectivity opens up a "whole new world" for internet users.

"It's great for education, shopping, entertainment [and] the social networking we now carry out routinely online, and it also offers huge benefits for businesses and public services," he added.