Work has started on Fastershire’s Phase 2 rollout of ultrafast fibre broadband to the Cotswolds.

Phase 2 of the Fastershire project in the Cotswolds will be delivered by fibre provider Gigaclear, giving access to broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps to over 6,000 premises by the end of the summer 2017.

Gigaclear have appointed Maisemore-based civil engineering firm Complete Utilities as Principal Contractor for this Fastershire rollout. Fastershire’s first ultrafast area will include Coberley, Upper Coberley, Cockleford, Colesbourne, Cowley, Elkstone, Seven Springs and Stockwell.

The first ultrafast fibre connections will go live before Christmas. Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Fastershire was the first national broadband project to secure Gigaclear as a provider in order to bring faster broadband to the most difficult and isolated areas.

“This first area will see ultrafast results from Gigaclear’s work and the first residents will be able to place an order for their new service before Christmas, barely more than two months after digging has started here on Greenway Lane.”

Matthew Hare, Chief Executive of Gigaclear, said: “Today we take the first step to build a new Gigabit broadband network across the Cotswolds. This will be a life changing project for many people living and working here with poor broadband service.

“Gigaclear is proud that our new ultrafast pure fibre broadband will deliver performance up to 40 times faster than the UK average to thousands of homes and businesses in 2016 and 2017. Working with Gloucestershire County Council, we aim to keep disruption to a minimum during this initial construction stage as we install this new, future proof telecommunications network.”

Fastershire and Gigaclear will hold events in advance of engineering work in an area to provide information and give residents the opportunity to ask questions.

The next community event will take place in Rendcomb Village Hall on Wednesday 28 October from 7.30pm.