SUPERFAST broadband has arrived for 2,800 homes and businesses in Sherborne and Shaftesbury.

BT said that the figure will rise to 7,800 as engineers complete the upgrade in the weeks ahead.

They follow 19 Dorset communities, such as Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester and Blandford, where fibre broadband is already available.

Lyme Regis, Swanage, Gillingham and Wareham are also due to be upgraded and by the end of spring 2014 more than 260,000 homes and businesses in the county will be able to benefit from BT’s £2.5 billion fibre programme.

Jon Reynolds, BT south west regional director, said: “We’ve always said we’d like to work with the public sector to expand the fibre footprint beyond the commercial boundaries and in Dorset we are excited to be doing exactly that.”