More than 3,000 homes and businesses in Cirencester are set to receive broadband relief this month after engineers completed work in the town to provide a full fibre connection.

To reach Cirencester, telecoms company Gigaclear extended its broadband network from Cerney Wick and Ewen using fibre optic cables. Since then, they have been going street-to-street either digging new trenches or using existing infrastructure such as poles and ducting in order to reach each property.

The work is part of a contract with Fastershire, a partnership between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire county councils to provide ultrafast, full fibre broadband to areas in the two counties that are not commercially viable.

Delivery director Charlie Freed said: "This work in Cirencester brings to an end our longstanding contractual relationship with Fastershire. We're now in the planning phase of a new £16.6m, three-year contract with Project Gigabit to deliver full fibre broadband to more than 4,000 rural properties in east Gloucestershire, including Andoversford, Kemble, Lower Slaughter, Miserden and Woodmancote.

"Once connected, these communities will join the growing number of rural towns and villages on Gigaclear's network, many of whom would otherwise not have access to fast and reliable full fibre broadband and the benefits that brings, such as streaming digital entertainment, working from home and utilising smart gadgets."