Openreach reveal next areas for full fibre broadband

Charlotte Whyatt • 31 Jan 2019

Greater Glasgow, Salford and the London boroughs of Bexley and Merton are included in the 2019 rollout. 

BT Openreach has revealed the areas in the UK that’ll be included in its full fibre rollout for 2019. 

Salford and the smaller town of Bury, Greater Manchester will both be connected up in the North along with Sutton Coldfield in the Midlands.

The five London boroughs that’ll receive the upgrade to ultrafast speeds are Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Merton, Richmond-Upon-Thames and Redbridge.  

Also included in the London-focused part of the scheme are the towns of Croydon and Harrow while Greater Glasgow is the only place in Scotland that’ll be targeted. 

Details on which exchanges will be reached and when in each location will be published online over the following months. 

Openreach are looking to hire an additional 3,000 apprentice engineers to assist in the project and help with maintaining the existing infrastructure. 

This full fibre network currently services 682,000 premises across the UK but Openreach’s target, which they say is well within reach, is to connect up three million by the end of 2020. 

Source: Choose