It would appear that Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElenney aren’t the only investors in Wrexham as Openreach – the UK’s largest network provider – announced it is to build its full fibre network in the town.
Wrexham has enjoyed considerable media attention ever since the famous duo took ownership of Wrexham FC and in further good news for its residents the town will have access to some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds in Europe.
People living and working in Wrexham will soon be able to download the latest Ryan Reynolds blockbuster movie in seconds thanks to Openreach’s national upgrade plan, with premises gaining access to the latest ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband.
Work will take place between now and 2026 and more details of the full list of locations and timescales to benefit from today’s announcement – including Monmouthshire, Vale of Glamorgan, Newport and Cardiff are published on Openreach’s website.
The news comes hot on the heels of a similar announcement last month, when 415,000 homes and businesses – in 140 mainly rural and harder to serve areas across every single Welsh local authority area – were also included in the build plan. The company is also working in partnership with Welsh Government to reach those that are in the final 5%.
Both announcements build on Openreach’s existing work in Wales, where more than 320,000 homes and businesses can already order ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband.
Earlier this week is was also announced that Bodelwyddan based CommsScope will be recruiting 30-50 manufacturing engineers in the area after it secured a contract to provide innovative new technology to Openreach as it ramps up its full fibre network.
Connie Dixon, Openreach’s regional director for Wales, said:
“Nobody in Wales or the rest of the UK is building full fibre faster, further or at a higher quality than Openreach. We’re reaching more communities than ever and our team of highly-skilled engineers, are working hard to deliver some of the fastest and most reliable broadband available anywhere in the world.
“Just last month we announced 140 rural and hard to reach locations across Wales were to benefit, so it’s great that we’re able to reveal another huge broadband boost for the country with Wrexham and these additional locations.
“The latest details and timescales are available on our website as the build planning progresses.”
The company’s updated build plan will be fundamental to the UK Government achieving its target of delivering ‘gigabit capable’ broadband to 85 per cent of UK by 2025 and it follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group – which means Openreach will now build Full Fibre technology to a total of 25 million premises, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country by the end of 2026.
Openreach is already building Full Fibre faster, at lower cost and higher quality than anyone else in the UK, having made the technology available to more than 5 million homes and business so far.
Openreach plays an important role across Wales. More than 2,500 of our people live and work here. Recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) highlighted the clear economic benefits of connecting everyone in Wales to full fibre. It estimated this would create a £2 billion boost to the local economy.
This short video explains what Full Fibre technology is and you can find out more about our Fibre First programme, latest availability and local plans here.
