MORE people in Worcestershire are being urged to take advantage of faster internet speeds - amid concerns not enough householders realise the benefits.

New data on the county's £22 million superfast broadband scheme has revealed how the take-up rate of the 27,730 premises able to access it so far is hovering at 15 per cent.

While the rate is significantly higher than the UK average, which is down at 12 per cent, council chiefs say they believe not enough householders are taking advantage.

The project is joint funded by the county council, BT and central Government and is considered among the best-managed in the country, with around 95 per cent of premises due to be covered by 2018.

It is currently running three months ahead of schedule, with the taxpayer-funded scheme being compared to a 25 per cent take-up rate in areas where BT has rolled out superfast web speeds alone.

Stephen Ashton, a senior project manager at County Hall, attended a meeting of the economy and environment scrutiny panel to be grilled by councillors.

"In recent months where we've had two cabinets go 'live' which have been wrapped (covered in a bright pink BT advert) and where we've had media press releases go out, take-up from the nearby premises has been at 70-80 per cent," he said.

"What we really need to do is target the others, maybe there's a little bit of education needed.

"Is it because people don't realise the benefits of superfast broadband, or don't they think they need to sign up to access it? I don't know.

"In areas where the take-up is low, we want to know why that is."

Pauline Harris, the council's broadband manager, said take-up across Worcestershire was "running at 15.26 per cent", insisting it is "very favourable" when compared nationally.

During the debate they did get some criticism, with Conservative Councillor Alistair Adams saying people in Honeybourne "feel let down" by no action while those in Castlemorton have written to him to label the roll-out too slow.

Councillor Ken Pollock, the panel's chairman, told them Abberley Parish Council was "furious" that only half the village has been covered.

The council has laid out a timetable to eventually cover almost all the county's patches where BT has deemed it commercially unviable to go it alone, but around five to six per cent will remain the same as now.

Aorund the county, the take-up of the scheme seems largely dependent on how long the fibre cabinets have been in place for.

Five cabinets were finished off 10 months ago, and the take-up rate for those is at 46 per cent.

Another 17 cabinets were done nine months ago, with the take-up for those hovering at 24 per cent for homes and businesses.