Surrey council insists fibre broadband is a priority

Surrey County Council has insisted it is committed to ensuring fibre optic broadband is available to residents and businesses in isolated communities in the short term.

Villagers in Ewhurst have been calling for faster broadband access and although BT has agreed to carry out the necessary upgrades, some campaigners argue the new service will still leave plenty to be desired, reports the Surrey Advertiser.

Lobbyist Walter Willcox said the new broadband cabinets may prove insufficient for the number of properties, while the fact that the upload speeds are slower than download rates means the service will be "useless" for certain business applications.

Despite this criticism, county councillor for Cranleigh and Ewhurst Alan Young stressed that the local authority is still prioritising the rollout of next-generation broadband across the county - particularly in rural areas.

"Our commitment is to get super-fast broadband to the people of Surrey as quickly as we can, especially those in hard to reach places," he explained.