BOURNEMOUTH, Poole and Dorset will receive an extra £770,000 to invest in superfast broadband.

It will be added to the previous funding of £9.44 million and yesterday the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced an extra £250 million nationwide for the Superfast Britain programme.

The cash will need to be match-funded locally.

The Superfast Dorset project aims to have superfast broadband, with speeds of at least 24 megabits per second (Mbps), available to 95.6 per cent of houses and businesses by the project’s planned completion in autumn 2016.

In addition to superfast broadband, the project plans to have a fibre network with various speeds above two Mbps available to 97 per cent of premises and access to a connection of at least two Mbps available to 100 per cent of premises.

The hope is that faster connections will bolster economic growth.

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: “The extra funding for this project is a smart investment, as the establishment of superfast broadband services in Bournemouth and Poole can only augment the rapid growth of the area’s creative and digital industries. Bournemouth’s world-leading universities have helped attract a lot of business, and the new infrastructure will ensure it stays here.”