THE number of Worcestershire businesses able to get high-speed fibre broadband has more than doubled in two years thanks to the multi million pound Superfast Worcestershire programme.

Worcestershire County Council, which is a lead partner in the project with BT, has achieved its "Open for Business" target of making the technology available to 90 per cent of businesses in the county and the number of firms with access to fibre is continuing to grow.

To mark the key milestone, representatives from the County Council were joined by leaders from BT, the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, Worcestershire Business Central, Worcestershire Federation of Small Businesses, Hereford and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce and local businesses at Strensham Business Park.

Cllr Ken Pollock, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member responsible for economy, skills and infrastructure said: "Worcestershire was unique in including business premises in a specific 90 per cent target in the partnership. Achieving this recognises that the vast majority of businesses in Worcestershire are able grow and develop their business using the benefits of this essential technology, to ensure Worcestershire is and remains ‘Open for Business’."

Paul Bimson, BT’s regional partnership director, added: "Superfast Worcestershire is a multi-million pound engineering programme which is progressing extremely well. When combined with BT’s commercial roll-out, more than 240,000 premises across Worcestershire are now able to access faster fibre broadband. Every day we’re seeing how this technology is making a positive impact on local businesses and households."

Mark Martin, chairman of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership’s business board, said: "This technology is vital for businesses. Today’s announcement, as well as the extension to the roll-out, is great news for the economy and I would encourage companies to upgrade so that their business can benefit at the earliest opportunity."

Already, one in three households and businesses have signed up for the faster services. People can follow the progress of the Superfast Worcestershire roll-out via: www.superfastworcestershire.com. It’s an "opt in" service, but because the network is being installed by BT’s local network business, Openreach, it is "open", so residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a wide choice of fibre broadband service providers. Local people choosing to upgrade will be able to get download speeds of up to 80 megabits (Mbps) and uploads of up to 20Mbps.