Village internet saved by H&M’s billionaire owner

THE billionaire owner of the H&M clothes shops chain got staff on his country estate to dig a two-mile trench so he and neighbouring villagers can get superfast internet broadband.

Stefan Persson had shared his neighbours’ frustration over slow internet speeds for residents of Axford in Wiltshire.

They faced waiting more than three years for BT to provide the fibre optic cables needed for the high-speed access to the internet which is vital for watching films and accessing websites quickly.

So Mr Persson, who is understood to be worth £15billion, used staff on his 10,000acre estate to dig a trench some two miles long across his fields. It slashes the cost of bringing fibre optic cables to Axford and means villagers should have broadband by spring, instead of having to wait until 2021 at the earliest.

The only disappointment has been that while BT Openreach was expected to have completed the work by Christmas it failed to do so, and customers will have to wait a few more months.

BT had suggested there were no plans to upgrade the connection to the village before 2021 and villagers would have to collectively find £170,000 to pay for the cables if they wanted it any earlier.

Mr Persson’s estate manager Alistair Ewing told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We thought OK, we will do all the digging, trenching and laying... it is no good standing with your hand out because no one will give you anything.’

It took two weeks to complete the trench, which will slash £90,000 off the BT bill for installing the cables.