NEIGHBOURS and businesses in Wanborough and Chiseldon can register their interest in receiving BT Openreach fibre broadband.

The government's gigabit voucher scheme means that eligible rural homes can get a voucher worth £1,500 while small businesses can get one worth up to £3,500.

This will pay for the installation of superfast internet.

South Swindon MP Robert Buckland said: “Following many meetings between myself, Coun Gary Sumner and BT Openreach, we are pleased to announce that eligible residents in Wanborough and Chiseldon are now able to register their interest in Openreach Fibre Broadband, utilising government funding.

“Along with Coun Gary Sumner, Coun Jenny Jeffries and Coun Brian Mattock, I am pleased that this option is now available after we have championed the issue of behalf of many local residents.”

The government announced in September that more than £22 million of additional funding would be invested in the broadband voucher scheme, which subsidises the costs of building gigabit-capable broadband networks to hard-to-reach areas.

The broadband enables internet download speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second- enough to download a HD movie in less than 30 seconds and lay the foundations for 8K-quality video streaming and virtual reality online gaming.

Register your interest at www.openreach.com/connectmycommunity

Almost 500,000 premises across the UK have been given access to gigabit-capable broadband since summer 2018 through a £1 billion government funding commitment until the end of 2021.

Combined with industry investment it means 8 million premises can now access gigabit capable broadband compared to around 1.4 million premises two years ago.

Nearly 45,000 gigabit broadband vouchers, worth more than £90 million, have already been issued and there is more than £70 million worth of vouchers on offer immediately to take companies and residents in rural towns and villages out of the digital slow lane.

On top of this, the government has promised £5 billion to ensure hard-to-reach areas get access to gigabit connections over the next few years. Details on how this will be spent will be announced this autumn.