Cambridgeshire will be among the first areas in the UK to get lightning-fast gigabit connectivity as part of the Government's £5 billion broadband scheme.

The Project Gigabit scheme, which starts in early 2022, will enable connections of 1,000 megabits per second following the rollout of full fibre to over 140,000 premises.

Homes and businesses in March and Whittlesey will also receive faster broadband connections under full fibre rollout plans which were announced by commercial provider CityFibre.

The plans are part of a £4 billion build programme expected to reach 8 million premises nationwide by 2025.

Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council Cllr Steve Count said: “This is very good news for Cambridgeshire homes and businesses in harder to reach rural areas with poor broadband speeds.

"It will bring significant economic benefits for our Fenland market towns, putting them on a level playing field with the rest of the country.

“Our Connecting Cambridgeshire superfast programme has already ensured that most of the county can access superfast broadband.

"Now, by working with Government and infrastructure providers, we can maximise the use of public subsidy to help provide ever faster, better connectivity in remaining rural areas, which would otherwise be left out because they are not commercially viable.”