COMMUNITIES in the Seven Springs area will be the first  to benefit from Fastershire’s phase 2 broadband rollout in the Cotswolds.

Around 6,500 homes and businesses across the Cotswolds will receive ultrafast broadband by the end of 2017 as part of the Fastershire phase two contract awarded to Gigaclear in June 2015.

Work on this new rollout will begin in October in and around Seven Springs, and the first Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connections delivering upload and download speeds of up to 1Gbps will be completed before Christmas.

This first step in Fastershire’s phase two broadband rollout in the Cotswolds will reach Coberley, Upper Coberley, Cowley, Stockwell, Cockleford, Elkstone, Colesbourne and Seven Springs, with Severn Springs being the first community to benefit.

 Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Some of the county’s most isolated and difficult to reach areas will benefit from Fastershire’s new rollout in the Cotswolds.

“We know that residents are increasingly eager to see details on when they may be upgraded so I’m delighted to now publish the full list of premises included in the rollout.”

A full schedule for the delivery including the expected timeframe for all communities within the plans will be published in September.

Matthew Hare, chief executive of Gigaclear, said: “We’re delighted to be able to reveal that Seven Springs is to be the first community in the Cotswolds to benefit from our ultrafast pure fibre broadband.

“This will give homes and businesses in the area a world-leading internet connection with speeds up to 40 times faster than the UK average. Working with local communities, landowners and the county council, we aim to minimise the impact on the local environment during the construction stage while we install this substantial new telecommunications network.”

As part of the rollout Fastershire and Gigaclear will hold events in advance of engineering work to provide information and give residents the opportunity to ask questions.

The Seven Springs community event will be held on September 30 at Elkstone Village Hall at 7.30pm.

This rollout builds on phase 1 of the Fastershire project which has already seen over 12,000 homes and businesses in the Cotswolds upgraded to faster broadband through a contract with BT to deliver faster broadband to around 90 per cent  of the county.

The full list of all premises included in Fastershire’s phase 2 broadband rollout in the Cotswolds is now available at www.fastershire.com/phasetwo