07/10/2019 For Information
This briefing is for NGA Communications Providers (CPs).
We are announcing 13 village locations where we will be trialling rural FTTP
Openreach is pleased to announce trialling a range of new tools and techniques to upgrade 13 of the UK's rural communities to faster, more reliable and future-proof broadband technology.
The trials are part of our ambition to extend new Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) network into areas that are more challenging for a commercial investment programme.
We will be deploying full fibre to upgrade 50,000 homes and businesses in 13 villages and market towns across the country:
Cranfield
West Calder
Flockton
Hesketh Bank
Kentford
Lingfield
Lundin Links
Mickle Trafford
Okehampton
Ottery St Mary
Parbold
Seal
Tarporley.
Some customers have already been connected and homes and businesses across other pilot locations should be able to order their new FTTP broadband services in time for Christmas 2019. Building work across the 13 locations is expected to be finished for just over half the customers across all the pilot sites by the end of March 2020.
If the pilots prove successful, potentially hundreds of thousands more homes and businesses across the UK - those in smaller, less accessible locations that were considered more difficult or expensive for the private sector to upgrade commercially - could become eligible for being included in Openreach's Fibre First programme in the years ahead - if the right investment conditions are met.
Full details of the announcement can be found on our news pages here
Openreach is on track to reach our full fibre build target of reaching four million homes and businesses by the end of March 2021 - and we are currently passing around 22,000 premises a week with fibre - or one every 28 seconds. However, we want to go much further - to reach 15 million by the mid-2020s and ultimately the majority of the UK, if the right investment conditions are in place.
More information:
If you've any questions about this briefing please get in touch with your sales and relationship manager who'll be happy to help.