“Worcestershire has got it right” - Steve Henderson, operations director of BT Open Reach in the Midlands gave a very upbeat report on how increasing internet speeds in the county is going. Speaking to councillors at County Hall’s Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel, he was full of praise for the way the local authority has worked with BT.

Mr Henderson said nearly all the homes and businesses in Worcestershire will have access to cable broadband internet by the end of 2018, and the vast majority of those will be able to access speeds of 24 Megabits per second. He said the second contract the BT Open reach have with the county council will be completed by the end of next year and will include properties added to this contract after £4 million was saved during the first contract phase of the work.

He said: “We’re rolling out to harder to reach rural area, which have greater challenges – the roads d take greater traffic management when we’re doing work, and cutting trees and getting permission from landowners is more complicated.”

One significant success highlighted by Mr Henderson was the enthusiastic response of county residents and businesses.

Take-up of superfast broadband in the areas upgraded during contract 1 was at 48 per cent: “That’s phenomenal, it’s a few percentage points higher than nationally. Even in contract 2 areas the take up rate is higher than the national average at 35 per cent – it’s lower because people in those areas already have contracts and they can’t so easily change. “He added: “It’s also good for the population of Worcestershire - the more people who sign up, the more money comes back to the county council to be re-invested.”