A LOCAL broadband project is on track to bring faster internet connections to 97% of West Yorkshire.

The Superfast West Yorkshire initiative has finished building 37 new green street cabinets that connect up people's homes – with 32 now taking customer orders.

They are the first batch of cabinets to 'go live' out of around 100 that have now been installed in towns and villages across the county as part of the first phase of deployment.

Most of the programme is taking place in rural West Yorkshire.

The project's first milestone has been completed on time and on target, with a total of 6,957 homes and businesses now linked up to the fibre network.

It is about 10% of the project area, so there is still a long way to go but already engineers have laid 56,864 metres of fibre cable.

This first phase provides superfast broadband to five new exchanges including Arthington, Barwick in Elmet, Hipperholme, Illingworth and Sowerby Bridge.

It also provides expanded coverage in Brighouse, Calder Valley, Halifax, Hemsworth, Ilkley, Otley, Sandal and South Elmsall.

The route of the Tour de France meant the schedule part of the project was re-jigged but the timetable to roll out fibre to 97% of the area remains on track.

Work on phase two of the deployment is now underway with fibre cable now being laid in our underground ducts between the exchange and each cabinet.