Several towns in North Herts and Central Beds will join other areas across our region benefitting from a broadband boost costing £144m.

Digital network company Openreach is planning to give Baldock, Hitchin and Royston access to Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband, which is up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection. Arlesey and Shefford, along with other Beds villages, will also benefit from the upgrade.

At the top download speed it would take two minutes to download a two-hour 4k film or 100 music tracks in under seven seconds.

The work is taking place between now and 2026, with the update set to be complete by April 2025 for in Arlesey, Baldock, Hitchin and Royston and by December 2026 for Ashwell, Shefford and other villages in Beds.

Openreach’s regional director Kieran Wines said: “Nobody in the UK is building full fibre faster, further or at a higher quality than Openreach. We’re reaching more communities than ever and our team of highly skilled engineers, alongside our build partners, are working hard to deliver some of the fastest and most reliable broadband available anywhere in the world.

"Just last month we announced 154 rural and hard to reach locations were to benefit, so it’s great that we’re able to reveal another huge broadband boost for the region with these additional 47 locations."

The investment will boost the signal for around 100,000 homes in Hertfordshire.

John Henry Group is one of the companies which will help build the new network, and programme director Jonny Wilson said: “This is fantastic news for Openreach, the John Henry Group and ultimately the customer.

"We are working very closely with Openreach to enable this build ambition into a reality. Scaling this ambition will require investment in a number of key aspects, including new opportunities for an entry level demographic.

"The UK telecoms industry is only going to grow in the coming years, and for everyone here at the John Henry group, being part of this build commitment with Openreach is one we are thoroughly looking forward to.”

If you would like to see which areas in are due to get Ultrafast Full Fibre visit Openreach's map here.