FASTER broadband is now available to a further 16,000 homes and businesses in Suffolk, BT has announced.

Claydon, Eriswell, Nayland, Saxmundham, Kessingland, Great Wenham and Barrow are the latest communities in the county to benefit from upgrades as part of the roll-out of BT’s next generation broadband service delivered over copper lines.

The investment will make available download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the fastest speed previously available from BT. The faster broadband is already available in many parts of the county including Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Haverhill, Ipswich, Kesgrave and Lowestoft.

By next spring about 85% of homes and businesses in the region will be served by an exchange which has been upgraded to deliver these higher speeds.

Dr Peter Funnell, president of the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said he welcomed this latest development. “This kind of investment by BT is vital for the continued growth and prosperity of Suffolk,” he said.

This investment in the copper network is in addition to BT’s �2.5billion roll-out of fibre-based broadband which will bring even faster speeds to about two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014. Fibre-based broadband will be available to about 186,000 homes and businesses in Suffolk by the end of 2013.