HOMES and businesses in Alresford will be among the thousands who will soon have access to speedy broadband as the multi-million pound second wave of the Hampshire superfast broadband programme gets under way.

Hampshire County Council and its partners, such as BT, are pressing ahead to boost the number of properties across the county with access to superfast broadband speeds of 24 megabits per second (Mbps) or faster.

Wave one of the programme has delivered access to superfast speeds to 63,000 premises across the county, while wave two will deliver to a further 34,500 premises by September 2018, including to Stubbington (Hill Head), Rownhams, Alresford, Winchester and Hayling Island.

County council leader Roy Perry said: “The UK continues to be the leading nation in Europe for take-up and usage of digital services, and take-up through Hampshire’s programme has exceeded expectations. Thanks to £28.4m of funding from the county council, the Government, partner authorities and BT, the programme has already increased superfast broadband coverage from 80 per cent to 90 per cent of premises in the county.

“Wave two of the programme will further increase coverage to 96 per cent of premises in the county, supporting businesses, the local economy, the provision of educational resources, as well as helping reduce social isolation.”

He added: “We are working hard to ensure that as many of Hampshire’s residents as possible have access to superfast connections, regularly overcoming hurdles such as gaining landowner consent and stakeholder support.

“We are also pleased that the deal, recently announced by the Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, between BT’s network division Openreach, and the Home Builders Federation to offer free or co-funded broadband to all new developments, will go a long way toward meeting the Government’s aspirations to bring faster internet speeds to more of the nation.”

Stacey King, BT’s regional partnership director for the south east, said: “We’re working with developers and planners to ensure fibre broadband is installed into new developments, up front, rather than having to retro fit it at a later date. We also offer community fibre partnerships for communities not currently in any roll-out plans, where BT and the local community share the costs.

“To future-proof the network and further improve speeds, we’re also trialling new technology with a view to deploying it, if successful.”

Mr Perry continued: “Significant challenges remain in Hampshire to reach the final four per cent. It is these harder-to-reach areas where proportionately more expensive infrastructure is needed for a smaller number of properties.

“We are alert to the challenges faced by communities and residents not in the current plans, and we are working hard to find a solution for these areas, such as facilitating discussions with satellite broadband or self-funding providers. We await details from the Government on how this will be tackled nationally.”

A £1.2m innovation fund pilot from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has also helped the scheme, reaching 1,700 homes in Winchester and East Hampshire districts through a mixture of technologies, such as radio and fixed wireless, in areas such as Bramdean, Ropley, Privett, Gundelton and Preshaw.

With the technology and infrastructure in place, residents and businesses can sign up for the improved broadband service via a choice of internet service providers.