Plans to build full fibre broadband in more than 500 new places unveiled

Openreach has announced plans to build full fibre broadband in more than 500 further locations across the UK, covering an additional 2.7 million homes and businesses.

The new locations include 400,000 premises in the hardest to reach, most rural parts of the country, including Tobermory in Argyll and Bute, Haworth in West Yorkshire, Saundersfoot in South Wales, Pinxton in Derbyshire, Harlow in Essex and Roborough in Devon.

The work is part of Openreach’s £15 billion project to upgrade the UK’s broadband infrastructure, making gigabit-capable technology available to 25 million homes and businesses by the end of 2026, including 6.2 million in rural areas.

Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, 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.

“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.”

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