RESIDENTS in an Oxfordshire town could soon have access to some of the fastest broadband speeds.

Telecoms operator Openreach has included Banbury in its commercially-funded Fibre First programme.

It is part of a wider program which will bring 'ultra-fast, ultra-reliable' full fibre broadband connectivity to 3.2m homes and businesses in 'harder to reach' areas across the UK.

Oxfordshire County Council’s digital infrastructure programme has been working with Openreach since 2013, delivering access to superfast broadband for more than 80,000 homes and businesses in the county under the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire contract.

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The programme focuses on supporting fibre broadband delivery with public funds in mainly rural locations.

It also works to attract telecoms operators to invest in Oxfordshire.

Councillor Ian Corkin, county cabinet member for business and partnerships, said: “I very much welcome the announcement from Openreach that Banbury has been included in the next tranche of towns to benefit from Full Fibre to Premises roll out.

"This is world class digital infrastructure coming to this vibrant market town, providing residents and businesses alike with access to ultrafast, ultra-reliable and future-proof broadband.

"We’ve already seen the importance of superfast connectivity in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and this next generation of technology will build on that."