Openreach: Next locations for full-fibre broadband in north and north-east

Openreach has revealed the next locations in Aberdeenshire and the Highlands and Islands to benefit from full-fibre broadband.

The company, an independent subsidiary of BT Group, is spending £15 billion upgrading the UK’s broadband infrastructure.

It says 10 million UK homes, businesses and public services now has access to the much faster full-fibre network which is up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection.

That means faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.

North and north-east full-fibre plans

In the coming months the following locations will see Openreach carry out upgrades.

These include:

• Alford
• Dornoch (co-funded Community Fibre Partnership)
• Fraserburgh
• Inverness
• Muir of Ord (co-funded Community Fibre Partnership)
• Peterhead
• Portlethen

Imminent planned build locations for the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% programme include eligible premises in Kintore, Inverbervie and Kemnay in Aberdeenshire and Onich and Spean Bridge in the Highlands.

The R100 rollout due to reach places like Pitcaple, Insch and St Cyrus, Mid Yell, Sandwick and Ballachulish and Gorthleck later this year.

No immediate plans for Aberdeen

But Openreach confirmed it has no immediate plans to improve its full-fibre coverage within Aberdeen.

It said its full fibre infrastructure now covers 54% of Aberdeen premises, a total of 67,400 homes and businesses.

Openreach said: “That’s one of our most advanced local authority builds in Scotland (and our superfast broadband at 30Mbps+ is also available to 97% of city homes).

“Meanwhile our full fibre network also now covers 50 per cent of Moray, or 24,000 properties.

“There is more to do but our announced investment plans cover the next several years, so will be ongoing.

“We’re delivering a balanced build that covers both urban and more rural areas.”

Openreach said its £15bn investment could bring a £72bn boost to the output of the UK economy in 2030.

Its current plans will see full fibre broadband reach 25 million homes by December 2026.