Three Kent towns are among a handful in the UK due to get superfast broadband within a year.

BT has announced that Sheerness, Faversham and Sandwich will be among 41 market towns to benefit from it fibre-based expansion.

Once BT Openreach has installed the service to Sheppey's green street cabinets, around 8,000 properties in the area will be able to benefit from it.

Faversham should be getting 9,000 lines and Sandwich around 4,500.

At the moment, most services are run through copper cabling, and the average download speed is 2Mb.

Fibre-based broadband means residents and businesses could benefit from download speeds up to 40Mb and upload speeds up to 10Mb.

BT said the move is part of its commitment to deliver faster speeds to more rural parts of the country.

Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson welcomed the announcement.
He said: “It’s excellent news.
“If the Sheerness exchange can be at the forefront of access to super-fast broadband, it’s incredibly important to our local economy.

“It’s not just householders but businesses that can take advantage and on Sheppey most of our industry is based within the Sheerness exchange area so they would be able to improve their competitiveness.

“My whole thrust is to help our businesses increase the amount of jobs they offer and I think this will help them do that.
“It’s incredibly good news for us.”

John Weaver, BT regional director for the south east, said: “This latest investment in super-fast broadband is great news for many homes and businesses in the South East.

“Fibre broadband has the power to revolutionise the way we use the internet.
“It has huge implications for the way we live, learn and do business, with massive opportunities for entertainment, education and entrepreneurs.

“People in these communities will soon be able to experience the internet as they’ve never seen it before.”