Openreach to deploy Gfast to additional 1 million customers
News

Openreach to deploy Gfast to additional 1 million customers

Engineer with van - Openreach.jpg

Openreach has announced plans to extend its Gfast ultrafast broadband footprint to more than a million homes and businesses across the UK.

The planned Gfast expansion will build on existing infrastructure, changing the way broadband signals are transmitted from existing street cabinets to boost speeds to 330Mbps.

“Currently, the UK is a world leader in digital infrastructure and services, but as the digital revolution rushes forwards and the demand for data continues to grow, we need to sure we stay ahead of the curve. That’s why we’re investing in faster, more reliable network infrastructure,” said Kim Mears, managing director for strategic infrastructure development.”

A total of 81 locations will make up the next phase of the network build out that will take place over the next nine months. Meaning that Openreach will adding to its existing 250 locations that already have ultrafast technology deployed.

The full list of the 81 locations are:

Acomb, Addiscombe, Aintree, Ascot, Bargoed (Cardiff), Barking, Barnsley, Beckenham, Beulah Hill (Croydon), Blackpool, Bootle, Bradford, Broadwell, Canonbury, Chingford, Colchester, Colindale, Dalton in Furness, Daubhill, Deal, Dover, Downloand (Croydon), Earley, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Enfield, Faversham, Felixstowe, Feltham, Forest Hill, Godalming, Greenwich, Hamilton, Harlesden, Hatch End, Healing, Hendon, Hitchin, Hyde, Kemptown, Kentish Town, Kenton, Leicester Central, Leytonstone, Lincoln, Littlehampton, Llanrumney, Lords, Lower Holloway, Malden, Midland (Birmingham), Mill Hill, Moss Side, North Wembley, Northampton, Oldham, Pendleton, Plympton, Ponders End, Prescot, Primrose hill, Purfleet, Rainham, Rock Ferry, Rushey Green, Staylbridge, Stamford, Stoke City, Sydenham (Croydon), Teddington, Tewkesbury, Tranent (South East Scotland), Upper Holloway, Urmston (South Manchester), Wallington, Waterloo, Wembley, West Kensington, West Wickham, Willesden and Worthing Central.

Gfast enables Openreach to boost speeds over copper networks, but the company says that the initiative will work alongside its full fibre network expansion programme, which is on course to delivering 3 million fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections by the end of 2020.

In May, Openreach launched a consultation on moving its services from analogue to all-IP. The move will help to prepare the market for the upgrade to voice over IP (VoIP) technology and the end of wholesale products and services that run over traditional analogue – which is due to close in 2025.

Gift this article