Rural Hampshire first in line for fibre broadband

A project that aims to bring fibre optic broadband to 57,000 homes and businesses in Hampshire will benefit rural areas of the county first.

There have been criticisms that some of BT's rollouts - which are part of a £2.5 billion nationwide scheme - are neglecting the most remote areas of the country as they do not have the population density for them to be considered commercially viable.

However, according to Get Hampshire, the latest announcement in the county means that busy towns such as Aldershot, Farnborough and Fleet will not be included in the initial set of installations.

Instead it will be smaller, less centralised villages like Odiham and Upton Grey that will be among the first to gain access to superfast connection speeds.

Country Land and Business Association (CLA) South East is an organisation that has campaigned for rural areas to be given the same priority as urbanised cities and towns.

A spokesperson explained: "Broadband is something that the CLA has been campaigning on for over ten years especially for the rural areas."