Full Fibre is providing ultrafast, ultra-reliable broadband to homes, businesses and public services to meet the ever-growing tech needs of today and tomorrow
£15 billion investment is helping to level up the UK with innovations in public services and new digital business opportunities across the country
Experts predict Full Fibre will help grow the UK economy with a £72 billion productivity boost
Openreach has hit a huge milestone in its upgrade of the UK’s broadband infrastructure with its ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband network – the largest in the UK, available to 10 million homes, businesses and public services.
Meeting the demands of modern life
The roll-out of Full Fibre broadband across the country is part of an ambitious £15 billion infrastructure project to provide reliable, fast broadband that meets the needs of modern life.
Since the pandemic, the UK’s internet usage has soared, doubling in 2020 and increasing year on year with more data downloaded last year than ever before[1]. The rise in usage is set to continue as technology becomes more sophisticated and integral to people’s daily lives, with social changes such as working from home and the boom in online learning.
Powering up public services
As well as improving the broadband that people use on a daily basis, the upgrade is set to improve the quality of UK public services. Openreach has already made Full Fibre available to over 9,000 medical facilities including GP surgeries, hospitals and research labs across the country[2]. Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband will benefit health services by improving connections with experts, remote monitoring of patients, easier access of records
Ultrafast full fibre broadband is available to nearly 9,000 medical facilities including GP surgeries, hospitals, hospices and research labs, there are around 44,000 in the UK
and faster appointments. The future applications are also exciting, such as the use of AI to achieve better health outcomes by helping review, triage and refer patients based on diagnostic scans and data.
Openreach has also made Full Fibre available to over 13,500 educational facilities such as nurseries, schools and universities, improving online learning facilities for students nationally[1].
Helping to tackle social challenges
The network transformation could also play a role in helping to tackle a range of social challenges - improving the lives of people across the country by bringing better technology and local services to areas which would benefit from them.
Openreach has so far made Full Fibre broadband available to more than three million premises in the hardest to reach, typically very rural, parts of the country[2] - and more than three million in areas identified by the Government as a priority for levelling up[3]. Openreach has also made Full Fibre available to the top 25 areas identified by the Social Mobility Commission as least socially mobile, providing Full Fibre availability to 409,000 premises in these areas[4].
Growing the UK economy
Openreach’s network will also help to grow the UK economy by connecting people and businesses.
The Full Fibre transformation could give a £72 billion boost to the output of the UK economy in 2030, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). This is the equivalent of 294,960 new SMEs being created across the country or adding 25 new businesses in every local council in the UK.
By providing increased capability for people to work from home, an estimated 431,000 new workers could enter the workforce by 2026. This will benefit older workers, parents and carers as groups that particularly benefit from remote, flexible working.
Clive Selley, CEO, Openreach, said: “Today marks a significant milestone in our transformation of the UK’s broadband. Not only will access to Full Fibre technology improve the speed and reliability of the internet connections used by people, businesses and public services, it also provides us with the infrastructure we need to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world. With this upgrade, we can improve the lives of people in the UK, offering economic opportunities, alleviating social challenges and creating the foundation for life-changing technology.
“Now we’re focused on the next phase of our build. Our engineers are building rapidly across the country and we already have plans in place that will see Full Fibre broadband reach over 25 million premises. We’re excited for the future that Full Fibre will create for everybody across the UK.”
Ultrafast full fibre broadband is available to over 13,500 education facilities including nurseries, schools, colleges and universities, there are around 67,000 in the UK
Area 3 definition - a geographic market comprising postcode sectors where there is unlikely to be material commercial deployment by rival networks. Definition is taken from para 7.6b on p 84 of WFTMR vol.2, found here
55,000 homes and businesses can now take advantage of a £16.5 million investment
More than 55,000 homes and businesses across Oxfordshire can now order some of the fastest, most reliable broadband in Europe thanks to Openreach, the UK’s digital network provider.
Many people living and working in Banbury and Thame can already benefit from the new technology, and in the next 18 months, thousands more are set to follow in locations such as Abingdon, Bicester, Wantage and Witney, as Openreach engineers continue to build the new network across the country. A new and improved map of Openreach’s announced exchanges is available on its website and consumers can see what infrastructure is available at their address using Openreach’s fibre checker.
So far, Openreach has spent around £16.5 million[1] commercially and in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council’s Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire programme.
The new ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre network is up to ten times faster than UK broadband connection and around five times more reliable than the old, copper-based network that it’s replacing. But tens of thousands of residents and businesses have yet to upgrade and are not taking advantage of the benefits of the new technology.
Kasam Hussain, Openreach’s partnership director for the South of England said, “Research shows that this new network will give businesses an edge and give families and home-workers future-proofed connectivity, no matter what life throws at us next.
“Following our earlier work in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council, our commercial investment across Oxfordshire continues at pace, and we’re determined to deliver a great service which helps communities to thrive and supports people to work from home easily, keep in touch with their loved ones and build connections and opportunities.
Cllr Glynis Phillips, cabinet member for corporate services at Oxfordshire County Council said, “The value of Full Fibre broadband connections to businesses and homes in Oxfordshire cannot be overstated and I very much welcome the attainment of this milestone. The dynamic business economy of Oxfordshire and its leading position in driving innovation, research and development means it needs quick and reliable connections to ensure we can continue to compete on the world stage. I am delighted that the Council’s digital infrastructure programme has been able to work collaboratively with Openreach which has helped thousands of local people and businesses benefit from gigabit-capable broadband speeds and helps people to stay connected.”
Kasam added, “Gigabit-capable broadband can have a huge impact on people’s lives and it’s great for the economy but upgrades aren’t automatic. People need to place an order with their chosen provider to get connected and we’ll do the rest. Our network offers the widest choice of providers such as Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, BT and Zen – which means that competition is high with great deals on offer.
“Even if you already have a decent enough service, it’s worth checking the fibre checker on our website to see if you can upgrade because Full Fibre is the technology of the future and provides the best broadband experience at great value for money. There’ll be no more worrying that your video call will freeze, or your files will fail to upload when everyone’s at home competing for bandwidth.”
