Plans for an expansion of high-speed fibre broadband in Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham have been announced by BT.

Openreach, BT’s local network business, will make fibre available to an additional 20,213 homes and businesses in the royal borough in the next two years, taking the company’s total coverage for fibre in K&C to nearly 80,000.

And an additional 6,629 homes and businesses in H&F will benefit from the high-speed broadband, bringing the total number in the borough to 77,000 premises.

The news was welcomed by the borough’s leader Cllr Nick Paget-Brown, who said: “Kensington & Chelsea is a beautiful Victorian borough but we still need 21st century infrastructure.

“This further investment in fibre broadband in Kensington & Chelsea is therefore very welcome. Fast broadband is increasingly vital, for work, leisure and business.

“I’m sure our residents and businesses in the additional areas where fibre broadband is now being delivered will be very pleased with this announcement.”