More than 2,200 residents and business owners in Newerne in Lydney are set to enjoy an early Christmas present with engineers due to complete work to extend a full fibre connection to them next month.
Work to connect the community started in August 2022 when engineers from telecoms company Gigaclear began extending its network from the nearby villages of Alvington and Aylburton along the A48 using fibre optic cables.
With the cable connection between the communities now in place, engineers are now going street to street either digging new trenches or using existing infrastructure such as poles and ducting in order to reach each property.
Project Manager Chris Calvert said Gigaclear is working hard to ensure rural, often hard-to-reach communities such Newerne in Lydney were able to access the same fast and reliable full fibre broadband enjoyed by larger urban areas.
He said: “Taking our full fibre to rural communities that might otherwise have copper or an inferior part fibre broadband connection fundamentally changes them for the better because it creates choice for the people in those communities about how they work and how they live their lives.”