NEARLY 15,000 homes and businesess in Malvern have been promised superfast fibre-optic broadband by the end of next year at the latest.

BT announced yesterday (Thursday, April 7) that the town will be among 156 communities across the UK to benefit from its latest £2.5 billion roll-out plans.

Super-fast broadband offers much faster download speeds of up to 40Mbps, potentially rising to 60Mbps, and upstream speeds of 10Mbps, which could rise to 15Mbps in the future.

According to BT, this means music tracks can be downloaded in about two seconds, a whole music album in 30 seconds and a feature-length HD movie in ten minutes.

Simon Smith, Malvern Hills District Council economic development officer, said: "We're absolutely delighted. We missed out in the Race to Infinity last year, but we were hoping that we'd sent a strong message to BT about Malvern's interest in high-speed broadband. This is something that will benefit businesses and residents alike.

Chris Marks of town centre shop Iapetus said: "It will be something that will attract high-tech companies to Malvern in preference to other places, and this will have a positive knock-on effect for small businesses like ourselves. I hope the council uses this in its marketing of Malvern to entice employers to come here.

"It will also be a direct benefit to all businesses which have a presence on the internet. This is fantastic news and I'm very pleased to hear it."

John Dovey, BT’s West Midlands regional director, said: “BT is making one of the largest private sector investments in the West Midlands in recent times and this is boosting the prosperity of the region as well as transforming the internet for businesses and households."