Openreach announced it will be building new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology in Newcastle, Portrush and Portstewart over the next year and a half – bringing the total number of locations to have this tech in Northern Ireland to 30.
Openreach also made a UK-wide announcement that it is extending the published view of its building plans from 12 to 18 months for the first time.
This will provide customers, councils and the general public an extended roadmap to achieving its target of reaching four million homes and businesses by the end of March 2021.
The business will continue to update this information on a rolling quarterly basis, as appropriate, as part of what it states is an on-going commitment to supporting the Government’s full FTTP ambitions and strategy.
Overall, 103 locations across the UK have now been included in Openreach’s multi-billion pound ‘Fibre First’ programme and the company claims it is making full fibre technology available to more than 20,000 homes and businesses every week.
There are now over 205,000 full fibre enabled premises in Northern Ireland, an increase of 156,000 in the last year, and Openreach says it will have 50% of premises full fibre enabled by end of March 2021.
Mairead Meyer, Director of Openreach in Northern Ireland, said: "Since the launch of our ‘Fibre First’ build programme last year, we’ve made huge progress, with Openreach in Northern Ireland topping the UK regional league tables for full fibre coverage."
“Through our Fibre First programme, we're building a new network that delivers more than just speed. Full-fibre broadband provides a reliable, future-proof, consistent and dependable service that will be a platform for economic growth and prosperity across NI for decades to come.
“We’re ambitious for NI and determined to build fibre as quickly as possible to ensure the region has a reliable network capable of supporting future data-hungry services and applications essential for boosting productivity and supporting our position as a leading digital economy. To support the build programme in Northern Ireland, we’ve also appointed 98 new recruits across the region since October 2018.”
Openreach states its ambition is to reach 15 million homes with FTTP broadband by the mid-2020s and ultimately the majority of the UK if the right investment conditions are in place.
