THOUSANDS of Christchurch homes and businesses now have super-fast broadband.

BT announced the high-speed fibre broadband had been rolled out to more than 7,000 Highcliffe households and firms and more than 4,000 in Christchurch.

The figure is likely to increase to more than 22,000 premises as engineers complete the local investment in the coming weeks. They follow other Dorset communities, such as Bournemouth, Boscombe, Southbourne and Westbourne where the high-speed technology is already available. Northbourne, Sherborne, Gillingham and Swanage are among the Dorset communities also due to be upgraded by early next year as part of a £2.5billion fibre broadband rollout for 250,000 homes and businesses in Dorset.