Superfast broadband to benefit homes and businesses in Watford area (From Watford Observer)

Superfast broadband to benefit homes and businesses in Watford area

1:08pm Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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Homes in Watford will be amongst the first in the UK to benefit from a new £1.5bn superfast broadband programme, according to BT.

The company announced today that its upgraded Hertfordshire network will be available to about 40,000 homes in the next few weeks.

The new fibre-optic-based service will offer connection speeds of up to 60 Mega Bites per second – up to 30 times faster than typical connections.

BT said this morning that the improved connections could provided a welcome boost to locally based high-tech businesses.

MPs Claire Ward and James Clappison said in a statement: “The arrival of super-fast broadband is a very important development for our communities and it represents a significant investment in this area. We welcome the opportunity for local householders and businesses to be at the forefront of benefiting from this exciting technology.”

The news comes a week after about 42,000 local users reported connection problems – problems BT put down to “third party” damage.