Norfolk County Council are on the brink of signing a deal for better broadband in the county.

Council leaders have revealed the identity of the company they want to install high-speed broadband network across the county.

Norfolk County Council is next week set to agree to join forces with BT in a partnership which will mean that more than 80pc of Norfolk’s homes and businesses will have access to superfast broadband services by June 2015,

The county council has secured £15m of government funding to match its own financial stake in the scheme, and today revealed BT is in pole position to put in the fibre optic cables.

Council leaders say the project will bring much-needed internet connections to parts of the county which are currently suffering from slow speeds or no service at all.

The deal would double the number of properties in the county which have access to superfast broadband speeds, classified as 24 megabits per second and above, and would see every single property in Norfolk able to access a minimum of a basic broadband service (at least 2Mbps) by June 2015.

Ian Mackie, deputy leader at Norfolk County Council and vice-chairman of the Better Broadband for Norfolk Steering Group, said: “This represents a staggering acceleration in broadband provision in Norfolk. The significance of this deal and this project for the future success of our county cannot be underestimated.”

More than 15,000 Norfolk homes and businesses registered for the EDP-backed Say Yes to Better Broadband campaign to demonstrate there was an appetite for broadband.

See tomorrow’s EDP and Norwich Evening News for the full story.