Innerliethen 'ready for life-changing broadband'

Residents in rural Scotland say the addition of super-fast broadband to their community will change their lives.

The town of Innerleithen won a nationwide BT competition to be among the first areas to receive fibre optic speeds of up to 40 Mbps, the BBC reports.

The service will be installed early next year, a move which local resident Andrew Fraser described as "massively important".

"Everyone is online these days," he continued. "You're sharing videos, you're talking on Facebook and everyone's bragging about their speeds. So it would be good for us to keep up and be a part of it."

However, residents in nearby Peebles are not so happy. They will have to wait longer for the service after losing out in the competition.

One Peebles resident, Cheryl, told the BBC people in the area have been waiting a long time, adding she could not understand why the town was going to miss out.

Another countryside community to benefit from the programme is Banbury in Oxfordshire, a decision described by Wallingford councillor Nigel Hughes on Banbury Cake as "good for society".