Openreach has announced the next 29 UK towns and cities to benefit from its full fibre to the home (FTTH) network expansion, over the next 18 months.
Openreach has committed to reaching 4 million homes and businesses by March 2021.
"Full-fibre broadband provides a reliable, future-proof, consistent and dependable service that will be a platform for economic growth and prosperity throughout the UK for decades to come," said Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach.
"We’re now building at a massive scale. Every 28 seconds we pass a home or business with our new future-proofed full fibre network. This has given us ever greater confidence in the level and accuracy of whatever we announce – which is why we’ve now laid out our build plans right up to the target delivery date of four million premises by March 2021.
“We also want to ensure we give our stakeholders – like council leaders, planners and MPs – the best view of where and when we intend to build so we can work together to build as rapidly as possible and help encourage people to take up the technology when it arrives.”
Openreach currently provides FTTH services to 1.8 million homes and businesses across the UK. This week, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, pledged £5 billion to help expedite the rollout of FTTH services across the country. The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has promised that every home and business in the UK will have access to full fibre connectivity by 2025.
The towns and cities to receive the full fibre treatment from Openreach over the next 18 months, are:
Aberdeen; Ayr; Aughton; Bradford; Billericay; Brentwood; Basingstoke; Brighton; Balham; Chorley Wood; Derby; Hatch End; Lichfield; Molesey; Northampton; Newbury; Norwich; Newcastle (N.I.); Ormskirk; Portrush, Portstewart, Rickmansworth; Royal Tunbridge Wells; Stanecastle; Swindon; Thames Ditton; Tonbridge; Watford; and Wickford during the next 18 months.
Source: https://www.totaltele.com/503925/Openreaach-lays-out-its-plans-for-a-fully-connected-Britain