Openreach announces its network in South West England has passed 1 million premises

Openreach is far from the sole full-fibre network in South West England, but its coverage of over 1 million premises ready for service surpasses the combined footprint of all other full-fibre networks in the region.

“Our amazing engineers and build partners have done a wonderful job to help us reach this significant milestone. This Full Fibre upgrade is a huge boost for the South West. We’re adopting a balanced build, bringing ultrafast speeds to the region’s biggest cities and most rural and coastal communities – as this list proves. We’re not stopping at one million – and people in the South West should visit the Openreach website to see if they can upgrade to Full Fibre already, or see when we’re coming to their area.“

Martin Williams, Openreach

Openreach anticipates adding a total of 3.5 million premises to their UK FTTP coverage throughout the 2024 financial year, with projections to increase to 4 million in FY25. They expect the per-premises build costs to remain within their £250 to £350 model for at least this period, with the current cost standing at £300 in the South West.

However, despite the availability of the new network, only about two in five homes and businesses eligible for the upgrade across the South West have taken advantage of it. To benefit from the new network, individuals would need to order the service from a supporting Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Zen Internet, iDNET, AAISP, and many more.