South Norfolk has become the first rural district in East Anglia to offer every home and business access to broadband download speeds of at least 10Mbps, the district council have said.

Last year the government announced that every household will have access to Broadband by 2020. But, that is still a long way off for people who are struggling with download speeds below 2Mbps.

To make thing happen sooner the council worked with InTouch Systems to ensure Broadband coverage was improved, for everyone, as early as possible.

Councillor Michael Edney, council deputy leader, said: 'Once again we are leading the way in making sure that all of our residents and businesses have access to decent Broadband speeds. Working with InTouch Systems we are providing access to wireless Internet for homes and businesses who have not been able to benefit from the work done by Better Broadband for Norfolk.

'Our partner currently has 33 wireless transmitters, 20 on masts and buildings, 13 on churches, 24 located in South Norfolk and nine just over our border.

'As we know WiFi doesn't stop at boundaries and now our network is up and running all of our residents and businesses have access to download speeds of over 10 Mbps with many receiving 30 Mbps.'

South Norfolk Council has invested £570,000 in the Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBFN) programme which has seen access to Superfast Broadband increase from 15pc in 2013 to 90pc today.

BBFN could not reach everyone, so to help those residents and businesses improve their connection speed the Council invested a further £330,000 to deliver Broadband to the areas not covered.

Mr Edney added: 'The Council will not directly benefit from our investment, but we are doing it, because it's the right thing to do for our residents.

'A decent broadband service is essential in nearly every aspect of our modern lives – shopping, homework, video streaming, social networks and so much more.

'The previous broadband speeds left some residents and businesses feeling excluded and frustrated making it vitally important that we did something to help – and now we have.'

To find out more visit www.betterbroadbandnorfolk.co.uk and www.itswisp.co.uk/

Community funded scheme works to bring broadband to rural areas

As South Norfolk Council announce that every household and business in the district has fast broadband, another organisation is continuing to work hard to improve broadband for rural areas.

B4SN (Broadband for South Norfolk) is a community funded scheme first used in the north of England.

Clive Blakesley, B4SN contractor, said: 'We started the project last year in Scole community centre. Anybody can join the project, but you do have to get volunteers to run it.

'It's necessary to have broadband because technology is changing. Your television set isn't your standard television set now, you want Netflix on it.

'Some people say they don't need it, which is fair enough but I think they will need it in the future.'

B4SN broadband is 1,000mbps for £30 per month. For more information visit: https://b4rn.org.uk/