BOURNEMOUTH has the highest availability of superfast broadband in the country, according to new Ofcom data.

Broken down by constituency by the House of Commons Library, Bournemouth East has the superfast broadband availability of 99.3, and Bournemouth West has 98.6 per cent. The national average is 88 per cent.

Poole is also near the top of the pile with 97.5 per cent availability, while Mid Dorset and North Poole (90.9 per cent), Christchurch (90 per cent) and South Dorset (88.9 per cent) beat the average.

The largely rural North Dorset (77.4 per cent), West Dorset (78.2 per cent) and New Forest West (82.5 per cent) all fall below average.

Here, superfast lines describe those capable of receiving speeds of 30 Mb/s or greater.

However, only half of internet users are taking advantage of the high speeds available. In both Bournemouth constituencies and Poole only around 50 per cent of connections were superfast, the data showed.

Although above average in superfast availability, both Mid Dorset and North Poole and Christchurch were below the average of 40 per cent in actual superfast connections.

Bournemouth West MP said the news reflected the strength of the town's growing digital sector.

"This is good news, although more people should be taking it up," he said.

"It is incumbent on service providers to make sure more people are able to take it up and aware they can.

"It reflects the reputation of Bournemouth being an emerging innovative tech hub in the UK."

He said this reputation was why the previous Chancellor, George Osborne, had chosen Bournemouth as a trial location for the roll-out of future wireless technology 5G.

"This complements everything that is going on in our universities and the tech economy, and the more people who can access it the better it will be," he said.