The new locations include 400,000 premises in the hardest to reach, most rural parts of the country
Openreach has unveiled plans to roll out full fibre broadband across a further 500 UK locations, expanding its reach to an estimated 2.7 million additional homes and businesses.
The proposed scheme will include 400,000 properties in the most remote parts of the country like Tobermory in Argyll and Bute, Haworth in West Yorkshire, Saundersfoot in South Wales, Pinxton in Derbyshire, Harlow in Essex and Roborough in Devon. This initiative forms part of Openreach’s £15billion venture looking to modernise the UK’s broadband network, aiming to deliver gigabit-level capabilities to approximately 25 million domestic and commercial premises by the close of 2026 – this includes nearly 6.2 million places in rural areas.
Openreach’s boss, Clive Selley, said: “We’re on track and on-budget to make this life-changing broadband technology available to 25 million homes and businesses. We plan to build right across the UK, from cities and towns to far-flung farms and island communities.”
“Ultimately, we’ll reach as many as 30 million premises by the end of the decade if there’s a supportive political and regulatory environment. Over time, we’ve learnt to deliver predictably, consistently and at a rapid pace despite this being a hugely complex national engineering project.”
He added: “That gives us confidence to be even clearer about our build plans and we want to be as transparent as possible about where and when we’re building. Today we’re publishing more detail than ever about the places we’re building in now, and the communities we’ll be upgrading next.”
