Billionaire to bring superfast FTTC to Wiltshire village

The billionaire owner of successful fashion chain H&M has, along with his staff, used his money and manpower to attempt to bring superfast FTTC broadband to a rural village in Wiltshire.

Stefan Persson, Sweden's richest man, revealed that he was becoming fed up with the awful broadband speeds that plagued his Ramsbury Estate and the local village, preventing business from going ahead.

After being informed that the village of Axford was not even mentioned within the superfast plan map, which highlights all the regions in Britain set to receive superfast internet within the next four years, Mr Persson decided to step in and solve the problem himself.

With the help of his employees, Mr Persson had a 3km trench dug across his land ready for FTTC broadband cables to be laid. Unfortunately, the plans have now been postponed after BT Openreach revealed they were too busy to complete the link up before Christmas. However, the estate hopes Mr Persson and the local village will be connected by spring.

Mr Persson's estate stretches across more than 10,000 acres of farmland and countryside including the entire village of Axford, all of which has been suffering from the slow internet connections blamed for pushing many away from the countryside.

Commenting on Mr Persson's plans, estate manager Alistair Ewing stated that, with the help of proactive locals, the estate contacted the relevant organisations to find out how they could tackle the issue.

"We have got appalling speed on our broadband. We have got a brewery business, a smokehouse and the farm and everything is done online and it is awful."

He added: "We decided that was not acceptable, so we thought OK, we will do all the digging and trenching and laying directly"