Homes in 10 Kent towns and villages are set to get ultrafast broadband as part of a major investment.

Thousands of buildings in the county are to get increased speeds as Openreach rolls out a wider programme across the UK.

The investment is set to total around £131 million across the country, of which £34 million will be spent on nine new exchanges in Kent.

The firm says its plan will be fundamental to the government achieving its target of delivering "gigabit-capable broadband" to 85% of UK by 2025.

Its latest announcement means that residents in Maidstone, Gravesend, Sittingbourne, Folkestone, Chartham, Bridge, Brenchley, Ham Street, Charing and Biddenden can look forward to faster speeds before the end of 2026.

Openreach has already pledged upgraded speeds for rural areas in the county, bolstering 26 of its remote exchanges across five years.

Kieran Wines, Openreach’s regional director for the south east, said, “Good connectivity is vital – whether it’s to work from home, access education and care services, or for gaming and streaming entertainment – and that’s why we’re investing across the UK to upgrade our network to 25 million premises.

“Nobody’s building faster, further or to a higher standard than Openreach, and we’ve already reached six million homes and businesses with ultrafast full fibre technology, including around 562,000 in the south east. It’s proving popular as well, with nearly 30% of the population already choosing to start using it.

“Our engineers and build partners are reaching more communities every week and we’re not just building in cities and urban areas.

"Many rural and hard to reach communities are already benefitting and we plan to reach many more in the coming months and years.”

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