LYDNEY and Cinderford are among communities that have been upgraded to faster broadband by BT.

In all a further 27,000 homes and businesses in Gloucestershire now benefit from the roll-out of BT's next generation broadband service delivered over copper lines.

The BT investment makes available download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the speed previously available.

The technology is already available in another 23 Gloucestershire communities and by next spring around 77 per cent of homes and businesses in the South West should be served by an exchange which has been upgraded to deliver these higher speeds.

Jon Reynolds, BT's South West regional director, said: "The rapid roll-out of faster broadband continues to reach out to more communities across the region. This major investment is playing a vital role in the future prosperity of the region.

"The technology is changing for the better the way we live and work, helping businesses work more efficiently and flexibly and find new markets. And households are better able to make use of the huge range of on-line educational and entertainment opportunities available.

"But there is still much work to be done and we want to work with the public sector to find solutions for even the most challenging locations."

This investment in the copper network is in addition to BT's £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre-based broadband, which will bring even faster speeds to around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014.