ROPLEY and Bramdean are set to benefit from broadband improvements.

Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry has welcomed the new availability of superfast broadband in the villages.

The two communities were selected to take part in a Government Innovation Fund trial to extend superfast broadband coverage to some of the hardest to reach areas in the county.

The villages were not included in the county council’s current roll out programme. But through the Innovation Fund trial, broadband supplier Call Flow is now making superfast services available to around 1,500 properties in the two villages, using a range of technology.

Mr Perry said: “Without this trial, these residents would not have the opportunity to increase their internet speeds - something which is becoming an essential requirement for modern-day living.

“It’s important that local residents are now made aware they can upgrade their broadband service – because the more people that sign up and prove this trial to be a success, the better chance for other rural and more remote areas in the county to access superfast broadband in the future.”

The trial has seen an extra £1.2m investment into Hampshire, on top of the county council’s existing £28m investment to increase the availability of superfast broadband from 80 per cent to more than 95 per cent of premises by 2018. The trial is backed by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) which intends to use the project to help improve services in the hardest-to-reach areas of the country.

Call Flow’s first cabinet in the area went live in March 2015, serving premises in and around Cheriton and Hinton Ampner. Two further cabinets in the Bramdean exchange area went live in June covering parts of Cheriton and Bramdean.

Half of the planned network is already live, and 90 per cent will be live by the end of 2015, with the upgrade due for completion by April 2016. The trial features ‘hybrid’ solutions, including Fixed Wireless Access and Fibre to the Premise, and is one of the first of its kind in the UK. All the technologies employed by Call Flow will support a 30Mbps service.