WHITCHURCH residents have complained that three years after the town won a competition to get superfast broadband, some areas are still not connected.

As previously reported Whitchurch was declared the winner of the BT competition to get connected in January 2011, having secured the most online votes throughout December 2010.

Campaigners drummed up support in the town, knocking on doors and handing out leaflets to encourage residents to vote.

Their efforts were a success and the town secured the most votes in the whole of the UK, meaning that Whitchurch would benefit from superfast broadband speeds.

However, three years on, some areas of the town are still waiting for their prize to be delivered.

Ian Read, media relations manager for BT, said: “The vast majority of premises in the Whitchurch exchange area do have access to superfast broadband as a result of the Race to Infinity programme.

“The deployment in Whitchurch is at the cutting edge of our technology development, and residents will benefit from a higher percentage of coverage and faster speeds than anywhere else in the country.

“Our Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) activity is also well under way, delivering the ultrafast speeds of up to 30Mb to residents. Work is nearly complete, and we expect residents to be able to place orders within weeks.”

However, Mr Read admitted that there was still one fibre cabinet to deploy in Freefolk, which is expected to go live in March.

He added: “We are aware that we have one cabinet that has already reached its capacity in the Whitchurch area, due to high take-up.

“We are now looking at the options available to us. There are no superfast cabinets in Laverstoke.

“However, Overton exchange is being activated this quarter, and some Laverstoke residents bordering Overton will be able to access this service.”