BURY businesses and those elsewhere in Lancashire could benefit after Norweb Telecom successfully bid for a £1 million broadband fixed wireless access licence.

Lancashire is one of four locations selected by Norweb for the project, allowing the company to deploy a range of advanced services to the region's businesses.

The licence was sold in a government auction that raised a total of £38 million.

It will enable Norweb Telecom to offer thousands of businesses the services currently being held back from them because of delays in opening the BT local network.

These include always-on airborne Internet access, voice, data and multi-media services.

Hugh Logan of Norweb said: "We intend to be at the forefront of providing broadband services simply, affordably and effectively."

The company has considerable experience in deploying radio solutions and currently directly connects more than 20 per cent of its customers via radio.

Broadband wireless access will build on this experience and form part of the multi-access strategy of the business going forward.