BUSINESSES, schools and retailers are all set to benefit after a high speed communications network was rolled out to a north Suffolk market town.

BT’s Ethernet is now available in Halesworth.

The technology, which is aimed at medium-sized businesses, shops, schools and other organisations, makes it possible to opt for a choice of guaranteed broadband speeds over a dedicated line and across multiple sites.

Halesworth joins a number of communities in the county which have already been upgraded, including Ipswich, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket.

Dave Hughes, BT regional director for the East of England, said: “This is another important step forward.

“Ethernet allows organisations to connect to their sites and customers locally, around the UK and internationally on an extremely secure and reliable network.

“It will also help public sector organisations run even more efficient networks, saving money and protecting public services.

“For any company considering investing in the East of England, high-speed Ethernet is attractive while it can help existing businesses work and communicate more effectively.”

Customers can choose Ethernet speeds between one megabit per second (Mbps) and 10 Gigabits per second (Gbits). At the top rate of 10Gbits the system is capable of transmitting 10 billion bits of information per second.

The expansion of Ethernet is in addition to the �2.5billion BT roll-out of fibre broadband, expected to reach two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by the end of 2014.