ONE of the Borders’ most popular towns also has its best ultra-fast broadband coverage, it has been revealed.

Around nine out of 10 homes and businesses in Peebles are able to upgrade to full fibre coverage on the Openreach network, according to the company.

Kelso ranks second, with around eight out of 10 properties able to access “ultra-reliable” broadband, with Galashiels and Selkirk also scoring well.

More than half of homes and businesses throughout the Borders are now able to upgrade to full fibre through Openreach.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach partnership director, said: “Our amazing engineers and build partners have done a wonderful job to help us reach this significant milestone.

“This full fibre upgrade is a huge boost for the Borders. We’re adopting a balanced build, bringing ultrafast speeds to the region’s biggest towns as well as the most rural communities.

“People in the Borders should visit the Openreach website to see if they can upgrade to full fibre already or see when we’re coming to their area.” 

Engineers are working throughout the Borders and are currently expanding existing full fibre networks in Selkirk, Jedburgh and Hawick.

Around 57 per cent of eligible properties in Peebles and 59 per cent in Kelso have already upgraded to ultra-fast broadband.

Anyone wanting to see if they can upgrade can go to openreach.co.uk/ultrafastfullfibre to register for updates and check their postcode to see if services are available from their chosen provider. They can then contact their provider to upgrade.

The Openreach network offers the widest choice of providers, such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen, which means people have lots of choice and can shop for the best deals.

You can find out more about the benefits of an upgrade to full fibre broadband on the Openreach website.