RURAL communities across North Dorset will benefit from faster broadband next year, says the local council.

Faster internet speeds will be made available to 9,000 properties across nine communities by spring 2015 as part of the county's multi-million pound rollout of fibre broadband.

The third phase of the Superfast Dorset programme builds on the work of the private sector which has already made fibre broadband available to most of Dorset's towns.

The programme is a partnership between the government, BT and Dorset's councils. It aims to reach an estimated 17,000 premises by the end of 2016 in North Dorset alone.

North Dorset District Council leader Deborah Croney said: "People in rural areas, including much of North Dorset, currently struggle with frustratingly slow speeds."

She added: "This technology will make a huge difference to families and businesses, especially in our isolated communities."

BT south-west regional manager Paul Coles said Superfast Dorset was "making high-speed fibre broadband available to dozens of rural communities in the county".

These communities would otherwise not have access to the technology, said Mr Coles.

Since the Superfast Dorset rollout started in spring this year, approximately 18,000 properties across the county have gained access to better broadband.

By Christmas, the project aims to reach approximately 30,000 properties.

The Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology being widely used throughout the programme can deliver download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.

The current average download speed in Dorset is 10.9Mbps, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom. But in many rural areas, download speeds are much lower.

The Superfast Dorset partnership aims to have made superfast broadband available to 95 per cent of the county's premises by the end of 2016.

The programme is committed to ensure a minimum speed of 2Mbps for all premises within the programme area on request where fibre broadband isn't viable.