Homes and businesses in Thetford could benefit from faster internet this summer as work to speed it up intensifies.

LightSpeed Broadband, a regional internet provider, has been working to bring the region's "fastest internet" to areas which it says are "underserved", by offering speeds which are 23 times above the East of England average.

The Lincolnshire-based provider mobilised 100 engineers to kick-start the network roll-out in 2021 in towns including Thetford, King's Lynn, Hunstanton, Dereham and Sheringham.

It hopes to reach 200,000 homes in the region by 2023, providing upload and download speeds of 1 gigabit (1,000 Mbps).

It says this would mean simultaneous home working, streaming online entertainment, high speed gaming, and video calling would be possible with numerous devices connected at once with no buffering, no lag and no dropouts.

The progress of the firm's broadband roll-out was marked in Thetford this month by a visit from Breckland council leader Sam Chapman-Allen, and Andrew Holdsworth, assistant director for economy and growth at the council, who saw the fibre network build in action in the town centre.

The company said thousands of homes and businesses in the town will be able to experience "super smooth upload and download speeds" from early this summer.

Mr Chapman-Allen, said: “It is fantastic to see LightSpeed Broadband making such great progress in Thetford.

"Clearly they’ve recognised the potential of our growing town and I’m delighted that they are investing in the installation of modern technology which will offer speedy internet access for local people’s homes and businesses.”

LightSpeed said since it started its network roll-out in 10 towns across South Lincolnshire and West Norfolk last year, thousands of homes and businesses are now able to connect and experience "life at LightSpeed’.

And thousands more are expected to be added every week as the build progresses across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

Joanne King, chief customer officer at LightSpeed, said: "As a regionally based business, our aim is to become the East of England’s leading broadband provider and to focus investment in towns, like Thetford, to unlock its digital potential.

"We are excited that we will be connecting residents in Thetford in the summer.”