A £12m investment to boost broadband speeds in Barrow has been revealed.

Netomnia, who say they will provide upload and download speeds of up to 10 Gbps, said they are 'already embarrassing Internet pretenders' with their business.

They expect to connect its first customers in Barrow in June with construction work expected to last 24 months.

Jeremy Chelot, Netomnia founder and CEO, said: “Barrow isn’t just a commercial opportunity for Netomnia. The Internet transforms lives, it’s a great leveller; if you haven’t got it or you’ve a poor connection you’re disadvantaged.

"I want to see the prosperity the Internet can bring to towns where others haven’t bothered to turn up or have made minimum effort. Netomnia’s desire to connect people, in previously forgotten but now fast towns, and the level of service from our ISP YouFibre is already embarrassing Internet pretenders, and that drives us forward.”

Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell said: “This is a £12m vote of faith in Barrow by Netomnia. I’m hugely grateful to them for their support. This past year has shown just how essential decent broadband is – there’s much work to do to improve coverage and capacity across Furness, but this is a great step forward.”

Barrow Borough Council’s deputy leader Lee Roberts said: “It will be a massive step forward for Barrow.

“For businesses that do stuff remotely, using high level digital skills and applications, Barrow will become a more attractive proposition to base their business. If you can't get a reliable and fast broadband speed it is going to affect your business.

“A lot of people leave the area to pursue jobs so being able to base yourself from here more might stop that export of our people and our talent."