KIDLINGTON and Wallingford are to get super-fast broadband connections from spring next year, BT have announced.

Both are on a list of 41 towns and villages next in line to receive internet connections allowing connection speeds of up to 40 megabytes per second, equivalent to downloading a music album within 12 seconds.

Chris Pack, chairman of Kidlington Village Centre Management Board, said: “Every business nowadays needs high-speed broadband, and if in Kidlington our connection speeds are going to be increased, then that can only be a good thing.”

Wallingford town councillor Nigel Hughes said BT were making the investment to compete with Virgin Media, which already offered cable connections of up to 50Mb/s in the town.

He said: “High-speed broadband is essential for rural communities.

“The ability to work from home breathes life back into towns like Wallingford, meaning you can meet neighbours in the day time rather than when you get out of your car in the evening. That is good for society and good for the way people work, but it depends on good internet connections.”

The installation is part of BT’s £2.5 billion programme to introduce fibre optic broadband across Britain.

Oxford’s central telephone exchange is set to be upgraded by March, and super-fast broadband will be installed in Summertown, Headington, Abingdon, Banbury, Witney and Thame by the end of the year.

Didcot, Bicester and Wantage already have the fibre optic connections, and last month, the village of Blewbury, near Didcot, won the chance to join them after beating more than 2,500 rivals in an online poll run by BT.