A WORCESTER-based firm has won a major contract to deliver a superfast broadband programme in Shropshire.

The Saint Mary’s Street wireless broadband specialist Airband has won the Connecting Shropshire contract and has been announced as the delivery partner for the next phase of Shropshire Council’s £11.2m superfast broadband programme.

As part of the deal, Airband will be delivering Superfast broadband to more than 14,000 homes and businesses in the Shropshire Council area, over the next three years.

The scheme provides broadband speeds of at least 30mbps and ultrafast speeds of up to 1gbs.

Airband currently provide broadband to thousands of houses across Worcestershire and a number of counties across England and Wales. The firm specialises in providing Superfast broadband to rural and hard-to-reach areas, using state-of-the-art fixed wireless technology.

Airband founder and managing director Redmond Peel said he was delighted to have won the contract.

“Knowing how essential high-speed broadband is, we are looking forward to working with local residents and businesses to provide fast and reliable internet connections,” he said.

“Our experience of building masts to deploy wireless broadband services in the Midlands, Wales, Dartmoor and Exmoor has given us extensive insight into dealing with the geographical challenges that we will come across in Shropshire.

“Using wireless overcomes many of the speed and reliability issues that are experienced with long copper cable lengths – which means that many who have long suffered from poor broadband due to their locality will soon be able to access speeds comparable to those of their urban counterparts,” said Peel.