Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk will benefit from new high-speed broadband access by this time next year, BT has revealed.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk will benefit from new high-speed broadband access by this time next year, BT has revealed.

But while some communities will be celebrating others could be left in the dark, as the spots to benefit named yesterday mark the last phase in a nationwide pledge to improve internet access.

More than 70,000 homes and businesses across Norfolk and Suffolk are set to gain from connection speeds of up to 24Mb a second - the same vamped-up speed currently only on offer in urban centres like Norwich and Ipswich.

However those towns and villages which are not on the list to the fast lane could be waiting indefinitely, as BT bosses said this is the last round of upgrades that the company has committed to making at this time.

New broadband hubs will be built by spring 2011 in Dereham, Gorleston, Costessey, Drayton, Beccles and Mildenhall, giving an extra 50,000 homes and businesses in Norfolk and North Suffolk access to BT's pioneering 21st Century Network.

At present Norfolk downloads of this speed are limited to Norwich, King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth, where around 100,000 homes already have access to 24Mb connections.

But that leaves more than 200,000 Norfolk homes that have not been singled out for development and will be waiting for BT's next round of investments, which is yet to be confirmed.