Cornwall to get super-fast broadband in £130m project

Half of internet users are to get direct fibre optic connections

Internet access in Cornwall is to be improved by a £132m project to roll out super-fast broadband across the county.

A new fibre-optic network will be put in place to provide faster connections.

The aim is to give between 80% and 90% of businesses and homes access to fibre broadband by 2014, the project's partners say.

About £78.5m of the funding is to come from BT and £53.5m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Download speeds

The project, which includes the Isles of Scilly, would see direct fibre optic connections to half of the county's businesses and homes, allowing download speeds of up to 100Mbps (megabits per second), managers said.

Fibre optic cables would also be aid to all street-side telephone junction boxes to connect the remainder of internet users.

Although it would mean that the last link with those computers would be by existing copper wire connections, it would still allow download speeds of up to 40Mbps, they added.

Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson said the project had the potential "to transform the local economy over the next 20 years".

He said: "Local businesses will be given an all important head start through early access to world-class communications and this will dramatically increase their competitiveness.

"The high speeds on offer will attract new business investment into Cornwall, creating thousands of new job opportunities."