LIFE in the internet fast lane is coming to the Blackdown Hills with the installation of the first ultrafast pure fibre broadband cabinets at Churchinford and Upottery.

The cabinets will be connected to surrounding properties within weeks, providing internet speeds of up to 1,000Mbps for uploads and downloads.

Provider Gigaclear is investing about £2.5 million in the Blackdown Hills area to deliver ultrafast broadband to 2,000 properties.

Business development director Joe Frost said: “This marks the start of a hugely exciting time for residents and businesses who live and work across the Blackdown Hills. The area is now at the centre of the largest pure fibre broadband network deployment planned in the UK.

“The first customers in the Blackdown Hills will be able to benefit from ultrafast within about 12 weeks, ending the frustrations from slow, unreliable and unpredictable rural broadband.

“This purely fibre-based communications infrastructure will future-proof all those connected giving a giant leap forward for those who relish living and working in rural Somerset and Devon.”

Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, cabinet member for Economy and Growth for Devon County Council, said: “This full fibre project will deliver a tremendous boost to the broadband speeds of residents and businesses across the Blackdown Hills. It will be instrumental in driving growth and will deliver a welcome boost to the local economy.

“I’m very pleased to see independent suppliers like Gigaclear making significant investments in world class broadband infrastructure in rural Devon, and I’m also very pleased that it has won four contracts under the next phase of the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme.”

Residents and businesses interested in receiving the company’s ultrafast broadband service can find out more at www.gigaclear.com/can-i-get-it. Customers who sign up to the service will not be charged until it is live in their property.