A network upgrade in Basingstoke is set to provide businesses and home broadband users in the town with a wide range of new online services.

Next-generation fast-fibre technology is being deployed by broadband provider BT, with its local access network division Openreach installing a total of 78 cabinets during the first phase of the project.

Consequently, Basingstoke will become one of only two towns in the south-east of England to have access to such services.

Internet service providers BT, Sky and Talk Talk have all committed to providing new broadband packages to local households once the infrastructure upgrade is completed in the new year.

Councillor Keith Chapman, the Basingstoke Cabinet Member responsible for information technology and telecommunications, said the council had been working to address 'not-spots' in the town, where broadband services are not available at all.

"Some of these residents could go straight from 'no performance' to 'high performance," he added, stating that the project is "a great step forward".

Last week, Highlands & Islands MSP Rob Gibson told the Stornoway Gazette that inadequate broadband is "simply insufferable" in the modern digital age.