A CASH boost of £5.1m to a broadband scheme could bring faster Internet access to 6,500 extra homes and businesses across Oxfordshire.

Yesterday BT and Oxfordshire County Council said the money would go towards a new phase of the £25m Better Broadband programme.

Under the scheme, 64,500 homes and businesses – about 90 per cent – were set to get superfast broadband by the end of the year.

But the new money will bring faster speeds to an extra five per cent, targeting areas that have not yet benefitted from the original scheme.

It was secured through investments from some of Oxfordshire’s district councils, as well as BT and the Government.

Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy and Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, pictured, said: “This money will allow us to reach areas in Oxfordshire which previously did not benefit from the first phase.

“People will have to wait for the final details to be confirmed, but if you are not in phase one you can hold out hope that you might be in phase two.”

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In yesterday’s announcement, BT and the county council said areas set to be included would be revealed in the spring.

Engineers are to begin planning and surveying for the new phase in the autumn, they added.

Then they will start building the new infrastructure before the end of the year.

The project will install Openreach fibre networks in rural areas, with download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (80Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.

The Openreach network is ‘open’ and so can be used by a range of broadband providers, BT said, to give people a more competitive choice.

BT managing director Bill Murphy said: “Today marks a giant step forward in the roll-out of fibre broadband in Oxfordshire.

“We are now reaching into the heart of scores of communities across the region that have so far been beyond the reach of this vital technology.” Money for the new phase is made up of £1m from South Oxfordshire District Council; £500,000 from Cherwell District Council; £250,000 from Vale of the White Horse District Council; £200,000 from Oxfordshire County Council; £1.2m from BT and £1.95m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

As reported in the Oxford Mail in November, the Better Broadband scheme has already reached more than 20,000 homes and businesses across the county.

The county council gave BT the contract for the scheme in August 2013 with the aim of providing a minimum speed of 24 megabits per second (Mbps) to 90 per cent of businesses and homes in Oxfordshire by the end of 2015 That speed is capable of streaming films easily or for demanding uses such as video-conferencing. It had previously said the remaining 10 per cent would receive a minimum speed of 2Mbps.

But under the deal announced yesterday, a half of those homes and businesses will also be lifted to faster speeds.

County council cabinet member for business and customer services Councillor Nick Carter said: “The Better Broadband scheme has gone incredibly well so far, enabling many thousands of people to access superfast broadband who otherwise would not have been connected.”

In Didcot, many residents of the Great Western Park estate are currently only able to access speeds of about 3.5Mbps, according to BT’s website.

Trish Chaisty, of Blackthorn Road, said her three teenage children are frequently stuck with a sluggish connection.

The 44-year-old said: “It is sometimes like going back to the 1990s when everyone was on dial-up, especially when everyone is trying to do certain things at the same time.

“Downloading is always very slow and my son and daughters can get frustrated when one of them is trying to watch Netflix or something and another is trying to do work. People here do complain about broadband speeds, so if there was funding to fix it I would absolutely love it.”

Oxford City Council did not contribute funding to the scheme because it has its own broadband initiative, Super Connected Oxford.

That will see wireless internet “hotspots” created at museums and on public transport and also includes voucher schemes for businesses.

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