BT bosses stormed Caerphilly Castle last week to sing the praises of a local broadband partnership which will be used as a national blueprint.

"Connecting Caerphilly" is a partnership between BT, Caerphilly council, the WDA and the Corus Regeneration Partnership.

It enabled BT to activate four additional exchanges at Blackwood, Bargoed, Hengoed and Newbridge at the end of last month.

The publicity surrounding the project has now spread into outlying areas with Risca and Senghenydd now hitting BT's registration scheme targets.

These areas are due to be enabled on July 16 and July 23 respectively.

At that point, broadband will be available to more than 80 per cent of households in the Caerphilly area against a Welsh average of just over 40 per cent.

Funding from the Corus Regeneration Partnership will eventually be subsidising broadband connections for about three-quarters of businesses in the county.

Managing director of BT Regions, Bill Murphy, said: "It's amazing to see how the project has created a ripple-effect and how quickly good news travels fast in a community."

"We are now volunteering to share this type of initiative with other partners and with competitors who wish to see wider access and greater take-up of broadband services."

Mr Murphy said the partnership approach, using Caerphilly as the blueprint, could improve UK broadband availability from 69 per cent of the population today, to 80 per cent during next year.

He claimed BT is leading the way towards "broadband Britain".

But, he said, the company could not achieve this goal alone.

"Other organisations and agencies have roles to play. "Above all, UK government in all its forms must be actively involved if we are to succeed in having the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 (a grouping of the world's seven wealthiest economies) by 2005."

Malgwyn Davies, chief executive of Caerphilly county borough council, said: "The introduction of broadband technology in the borough provides a huge boost to the local economy and helps revolutionise internet access for businesses and domestic users.

"Caerphilly CBC has always prides itself on leading the way in Wales and we are delighted to be working closely with BT and the WDA on this project.

"Our aim is to make this area one of the most connected in the UK, allowing businesses and residents to take advantage of the benefits of broadband technology and compete on a worldwide stage."

* Pictured outside Caerphilly castle, from left, Malgwyn Davies, Professor Mike Tedd, chairman of the Welsh Advisory Committee on Telecommunications, Bill Murphy, and Patrick Sullivan, director media technology at the Welsh Development Agency