A DELAYED project bringing high speed internet to Colchester town centre could be launched late next month.

Last May, Colchester Council signed a deal with media services company Arqiva to create a pay-as-you-go network called @ColchesterWiFi.

Arqiva agreed to place antennae on 23 of the council’s CCTV cameras to create the network and pay the authority a slice of the revenue in return.

The service, which would offer 30 minutes free internet access a day after registering, was due to go live last autumn.

But a Colchester Council spokesman said a backlog of projects nationwide for Arqiva had led to the delay.

She said: “The town centre WiFi project is proceeding and most of the hot spots across the town centre were installed before Christmas.

“Some further sites will follow shortly and we are hopeful of a launch in late February.

“The delay between a possible autumn launch and the current estimated launch date is been due to the scheduling of projects across the country by our partner, Arqiva.

“This reflects their prior commitments and success at winning work in the city and town centre WiFi market.”