BT to expand fibre broadband footprint in Gloucestershire

A further 52,000 homes and businesses in Gloucestershire will be hooked up to BT's fibre optic broadband network over the coming months.

The work is due to be completed by the end of the year and is taking place as part of the telecoms giant's national rollout, which is aiming to deliver super-fast broadband to two-thirds of UK properties by December 2014.

According to the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, regional director for the south-west at BT Jon Reynolds said: "This latest major investment is a tremendous boost for Gloucestershire. At a stroke, small and medium-sized firms will have access to big business speeds at much lower costs."

Faster broadband will allow companies to take on more staff and become more competitive, he claimed.

The latest round of BT upgrades will see almost 250,000 premises across the south-west connected to the firm's fibre broadband infrastructure.

Once the project is finished, more than one million properties in the region will have super-fast broadband access.