SUPERFAST broadband has been rolled out to more areas of Worcestershire, taking the number of county households and businesses able to access the service up to 50,000.

Residents of Droitwich, Hillside, Leigh Sinton, Pershore, Strensham and Upton-on-Severn are among the latest communities to benefit, and are now able to receive the high-speed fibre broadband service.

The high-speed technology is available to more than 231,000 Worcestershire premises, when the private sector’s commercial rollout of fibre broadband is added.

To mark the latest milestone for the scheme, residents and businesses joined representatives from Superfast Worcestershire in Pershore High Street, where the technology is already in place.

Emma Bangham, from the community arts centre Number 8, attended and helped cut a cake.

She said: “Using fibre optic broadband has benefited us in a number of ways.

"Not only is it faster for customers using the free wi-fi in our coffee bar, but also our projectionist can download trailers in the blink of an eye rather than having to wait for hours for them to come through."

Councillor Ken Pollock, the county council's cabinet member for economy, skills and infrastructure, said: "We're incredibly proud of what we have achieved to date through the programme.

"By June 2016, we will have enabled more than 90 per cent of the county to have access to faster fibre broadband. This will rise to 95 per cent when we complete our extension programme, which begins later this year."

Steve Henderson, BT’s West Midlands regional director for broadband partnerships, added: “Superfast Worcestershire is a huge engineering programme and the roll-out is progressing well.

“As we extend the reach of fibre broadband further, it’s great to hear how more and more local firms and households are using it to improve the way they do business, learn or spend their spare time."