An EXTRA 8,500 homes and businesses are to have access to superfast internet speeds across the county after a council approved a £7.8m extension to a scheme.

Councillor Roy Perry, leader of Hampshire County Council, approved the scheme which is set to extend superfast speeds of 24 megabites per second (Mbps) to 97.4 per cent of county properties by 2019.

The county council are currently in a second wave of the scheme having provided the fast broadband to 59,500 premises and are currently rolling it out to a further 24,500 properties by September 2018.

The new extension will increase it to a further 8,500 homes.

Cllr Perry said: ‘This is vital investment to ensure Hampshire businesses and families continue to thrive in today’s digital world, particularly in harder to reach rural parts of the county.We are committed to leaving no-one behind and we recognise this infrastructure is crucial for the future prosperity of the county which is why we are continuing to invest in this technology.’