SUPERFAST broadband has arrived for residents in Bramdean and Ropley.

The two villages were selected to take part in a Government Innovation Fund trial to extend coverage to hard to reach areas.

The two communities had not been included in the county council's current roll out due to the challenges of extending superfast services.

However, broadband supplier Call Flow is now making superfast services available to around 1,500 properties in the two villages.

County council leader Roy Perry said: “It's important that local residents are now made aware they can upgrade their broadband service - because the more people that sign up and prove this trial to be a success, the better chance for other rural and more remote areas in the county to access superfast broadband in the future.”

Call Flow's first cabinet went live in March 2015, serving premises in and around Cheriton and Hinton Ampner.

Two further cabinets in the Bramdean exchange area went live in June covering parts of Cheriton and Bramdean respectively. Half of the planned network is already live, and 90 per cent will be by the end of 2015, with completion due by April 2016.

The trial features 'hybrid' solutions, including Fixed Wireless Access and Fibre to the Premise (FTTP), and is one of the first of its kind in the UK. All the technologies employed by Call Flow will support a 30Mbps service.

Call Flow can be reached at callflowsolutions.com and 0800 280 0590.

Residents in the trial area will need to switch their internet service provider to Call Flow to upgrade to superfast broadband.