CityFibre has begun work to connect more than 45,000 homes and businesses across areas of Leicestershire and Warwickshire to full fibre thanks to an award of £77m as part of Project Gigabit.
Tue, 22/10/2024 - 09:49
Openreach has upgraded a rural Welsh village to 100 percent Full Fibre broadband coverage, giving all residents a boost in connectivity with internet speeds of 1Gbps.
The upgrade in Llanbrynmair, Powys has been delivered by Openreach thanks to the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, bringing Full Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology to more than 500 properties.
This will transform the digital landscape for both residents and businesses by providing the community with access to remote working, online education, entertainment streaming and other essential online services.
Among the Llabrynmair residents to see an instant benefit is local farmer and classical singer, Aled Wyn Davies.
Aled, who travels the world as part of the Three Welsh Tenors, said: “I can record myself singing and send it to an accompanist or studio and they receive everything instantaneously. Previously it would have taken 10 minutes or more and I would have to go outside the house to find a mobile signal.”
Suzanne Rutherford, Chief Engineer Director for Openreach in Wales, said: “Llanbrynmair is the first telephone exchange area in the UK to achieve 100% Full Fibre coverage.
“This milestone is a significant achievement for us and reflects Openreach’s commitment to building our Full Fibre network as far and as fast as possible.”
The achievement has been a collaborative effort, with the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme playing a pivotal role in funding the deployment of full fibre in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
The scheme helps by contributing to the cost of building gigabit-capable broadband networks in areas where it is financially challenging.
Openreach has been working with the community to encourage residents to join their Fibre Community Partnership (FCP) programme – where free Government Gigabit Vouchers are pooled together to help fund the build.
Across Wales more than fifty communities making up nearly 25,000 properties in some of the most rural parts of the country could take advantage of this upgrade as a result of the scheme. If enough people sign up, homes and businesses in these communities will join more than 900,000 properties across Wales that already have access to Full Fibre broadband.
