Businesses, schools and households across Essex could see the fastest internet speeds in the UK after more than 10,000 signed up to receive hyperfast full-fibre broadband.
The new scheme run by Essex based County Broadband would see 130 villages in the Colchester, Braintree and Chelmsford areas join the UK's top 8% for digital connectivity with speeds of up to 1 Gigabit (1,000 Mbps) a vast increase on the average UK rural speed of just 28 Mbps.
That means businesses can trust more reliable connections and those at home can download HD movies in seconds.
Schools and community halls in north Essex are also being offered free connections.
However, the hyperfast full-fibre networks will only be built in each village if at least 30% of the local community agrees to take up the service.
Work is already under way to connect over 50 Essex villages to County Broadband's hyperfast full-fibre network, with Eight Ash Green, Dale Close and Stanway near Colchester expected to be connected in January.
A pub owner in Eight Ash Green has said the new, more reliable connection, will allow him to entice in new customers into his pub.
Matthew Allum, landlord at The Cricketers pub in Spring Lane, said: "Reliable internet connectivity is no longer seen as just a luxury as more of our customers expect to be able to get online when they visit our pub.
"This new full-fibre network is an exciting opportunity for us and means we can provide more services to the community, such as streaming sporting events, and ensures we can take advantage of new technologies over the coming years."
Hyperfast full-fibre broadband is delivered through new fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks where fibre optic cables are connected directly into properties.
This means users can enjoy almost limitless speeds across multiple devices simultaneously.
This is a significant upgrade on existing superfast fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) infrastructure which relies on copper cable connections from green roadside cabinet to homes and businesses.
Speeds halve every 600m and can be unreliable during peak times. As well as the 130 villages in Essex, 18 near the Norfolk-Suffolk border in the Diss and Thetford area could see their internet speed improve as well.
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