Around 50,000 homes and businesses in Surrey are set to benefit from broadband upgrades.

Openreach, which operates the UK’s digital network, announced on Tuesday that nine towns and villages across the county would be able to access “ultrafast” full fibre broadband as part of a “commercial investment”.

They are Elstead, Farnham, Tadworth, Ashtead, Camberley, Ottershaw, Puttenham, Upper Warlingham and Worplesdon, which do not currently have access to fibre broadband.

Access is expected by December 2026 “if not sooner”, the firm said.

The investment is part of a £15bn project to upgrade the UK’s broadband infrastructure to enable full fibre broadband access to some of the “hardest to reach and most rural parts of the UK”.

In this latest rollout of infrastructure improvements, the company plans to bring full fibre services to 2.7 million homes and businesses across 517 additional locations by 2026.

Kieran Wines, Openreach’s regional director for the South East, described the rollout as “a huge infrastructure success story”.

He said: “Our fibre checker has the latest information about our work in your area, but only 36% of premises in Surrey which can order a new ultrafast service have done so, as upgrades aren’t automatic.

“Once Full Fibre is available where you live, you’ll need to place an order with a provider of your choice to get connected and we’ll do the rest.”