RESIDENTS in Suffolk will once again be at the forefront of broadband technology after telecommunication giant BT revealed it is to pilot a new high-speed connection in the county.

RESIDENTS in Suffolk will once again be at the forefront of broadband technology after telecommunication giant BT revealed it is to pilot a new high-speed connection in the county.

The service will allow downloads of up to 40 megabits per second (Mbps) - more than 12 times faster than the current UK average.

BT will pilot the super fast fibre-based technology in around 30 homes in Kesgrave - close to its research centre at Adastral Park, Martlesham, which helped to develop the service.

If successful it will mean a DVD-quality movie could be downloaded in 11 minutes instead of the usual two hours and 15 minutes.

The trial, which starts at the beginning of next year and runs until June, is the first of many BT Openreach projects aimed at bringing 100Mbps broadband into 10million homes by 2012.

The current UK average broadband speed is estimated to be 3.2 Mbps, according to Thinkbroadband.com, which analysed 6,000 homes.