A broadband provider has unveiled plans to supply homes and businesses across a Suffolk town with ‘hyperfast’ full-fibre.

Sudbury Mercury: Lloyd Felton, chief executive of County Broadband Picture: COUNTY BROADBANDLloyd Felton, chief executive of County Broadband Picture: COUNTY BROADBAND (Image: County Broadband)

The firm has promised speeds of one gigabit per second – 18 times faster than the UK average – for 8,000 properties in Sudbury by as early as spring 2022.

The £46million project, led by County Broadband and privately backed by Aviva Investors, aims to transform the town’s digital connectivity into one of the most reliable in the country.

County Broadband’s network would replace the current part-copper superfast FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) infrastructure with FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises).

Initial speeds of 1,000Mbps will be upgradable to more than 10,000Mbps in the future, according to the community broadband provider based in Aldham, near Colchester.

Neighbouring villages Belchamp Otten, Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Walter already have the network after approving plans for their communities.

County Broadband is encouraging residents and business owners to sign-up to the demand led Sudbury scheme.

Ciaran Griffin, town clerk, said: “Covid-19 is forcing rapid changes, with many more residents working from home and local businesses building e-commerce platforms to support their high street presence.

“This world-class digital infrastructure will be vital to attract new business to Sudbury, helping the recovery and building resilience for the future.”

Lloyd Felton, County Broadband chief executive, said: “One thing the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us is just how important a dependable broadband connection is and the urgent need for a faster, more reliable broadband service at home.

“We are already well under way with dozens of similar projects in rural areas around Sudbury – and we are now looking forward to extending our full-fibre service to residents of the town itself, bringing affordable, lightning-fast broadband services to residents and businesses. We’re asking people to register their interest online to help how we plan and prioritise bringing real full-fibre broadband to the town.”

County Broadband will be hosting a series of online events and working with local authorities to provide more details about the service in coming weeks.

For more, visit sudbury.countybroadband.co.uk.