A CONTRACT has been awarded to bring faster broadband speeds to parts of Hereford.

The scheme will deliver the second phase of the Fastershire broadband rollout in parts of Hereford. The £887,000 deal, which includes backing from Herefordshire Council and the BT Group, will see about 2,200 further homes and businesses benefit from superfast fibre broadband by the end of 2019.

Councillor David Harlow, Herefordshire Council the cabinet member for economy and communications, said: “By working with BT in Hereford, Fastershire will ensure that more homes and businesses will be able to benefit from superfast speeds.”

The upgrades will be carried out by engineers from Openreach – the firm responsible for Britain’s largest telephone and broadband network.

Steve Haines, Openreach’s managing director of next generation access, said: “This major expansion of the Fastershire programme means more great news for people living and working in Hereford and we’re delighted to be playing such a key role.

“Just two years ago, Britons used less than half the data they do now on their home broadband and this pace shows no signs of slowing.

“Consumers are doing more and more online and at the same time, from streaming high-definition movies and TV, gaming, online shopping to using mobile devises over wireless broadband.

“Every day the number of services delivered to us online, whether designed to entertain, educate or meet our daily needs, is growing.

“Content and applications will only get more sophisticated making high-speed broadband vital for doing all your essential tasks online, so I hope that communities take full advantage of the technology as it arrives.”

The money for phase two of the Fastershire project is building on the phase one rollout, also delivered by BT Group, which has already given about 3,5000 premises in Herefordshire access to faster broadband speeds over 30Mbps.

Further contracts to cover other parts of Herefordshire under phase two have been awarded to Gigaclear, which will deliver ultrafast broadband to nearly 8,000 additional homes and businesses by 2020.

Residents can use the address checker at www.fastershire.com to check faster broadband availability for their property.