Shailesh Vara MP has welcomed the roll out of superfast broadband to Upton near Huntingdon for which he has been campaigning for some 12 months.

The connection has been made possible by the Connecting Cambridgeshire project, managed by Cambridgeshire County Council, which has reached more than 97,500 premises to date.

Connecting Cambridgeshire runs separately to the rollout plans of internet service providers and Cambridgeshire has some of the best fibre take-up rates in the country at an average of 30%. Rural areas fare even better and some villages have exceed 70% take-up.

In welcoming the announcement Mr Vara said:

“I am absolutely delighted that superfast broadband is now available to residents in Upton and that their long wait for this service is finally over.

“A fast internet connection has become essential to modern life with online services becoming increasingly important and with many only functioning with connections above a certain speed.

“It is vital therefore that the work of Connecting Cambridgeshire is recognised and that we encourage the project not to forget the most remote areas in the county for these improvements.”