A VILLAGE is leading the way when it comes to superfast broadband.

More than one third of the new fibre broadband connections ordered across the Sedgefield area, since the first street cabinet went live this month, are in Fishburn.

Fibre technology can increase internet speeds up to 80Mbps, allowing residents to surf the internet about 20 times faster than before.

Nearly 200 orders have been placed this month a and demand continues to grow.

Today (Friday, January 30), Phil Wilson, MP for Sedgefield, joined representatives from the Digital Durham programme, BT and residents at Sedgefield Parish Hall to find out more.

He said he was delighted superfast broadband was available in his constituency, adding: “There can be few areas of modern life which are not influenced in some way by broadband connectivity – whether it’s how we work, how we learn, how we communicate with friends and family, how we entertain ourselves.

“Increasingly that connectivity needs to be superfast, as more and more of our lives move online, so now is the time to embrace it and switch to the superfast lane.”

In total, more than 2,800 homes and businesses in Sedgefield now have access to the high-speed, fibre technology thanks to the Digital Durham programme, a £25 million initiative to transform broadband speeds across County Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland and theTees Valley.

In April 2013 a partnership of eight local authorities, including Durham County Council, agreed a deal with BT to extend high-speed fibre broadband availability to around 94 per cent of premises by the end of 2016.

The programme also aims to provide a minimum of 2Mbps broadband speeds for all within the programme area.