Openreach is asking residents in Beaumaris to get behind a bid to bring ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband to the market town.

The company is urging local residents and businesses to consider pooling Gigabit broadband vouchers available from the UK and Welsh Governments to help build a new, gigabit-capable network, where fibre is run directly from the exchange all the way to each property.

Residents who don’t already have access to a 100Mbps broadband service can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.

Utilising the vouchers enables Openreach to work with a local community to build a customised, co-funded network and bring full fibre broadband to areas not included in any existing private or publicly subsidised upgrade schemes.

By working with Openreach in this way more than 120,000 homes and businesses across the UK can already benefit from ultrafast, ultra-reliable broadband.

Connie Dixon, Openreach’s partnership director for Wales, said:

“This is a really exciting opportunity for the community of Beaumaris to bring full fibre infrastructure to their town.

“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make Beaumaris one of the best-connected places in North Wales. Pledging couldn’t be simpler, but we need residents to act quickly – as the scheme closes in March 2021.”

Connie added:

“Thousands of homes and businesses across Wales can already upgrade to the Openreach full fibre network and local people can use our online postcode checker to see what’s now available.

“We’re investing £12 billion to build full fibre broadband to 20 million homes – and more than three million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK – but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone. This latest support from government, alongside help to remove red tape and barriers that slow down the build, is vital.”

To claim vouchers which contribute towards the cost of building the new network, residents are asked to commit to ordering a full fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available.

Eligible residents can qualify for up to a maximum of £3,000 while small to medium sized businesses can claim up to £7,000 under the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme which has been topped up by Welsh Government funding.

Welcoming the initiative, Dafydd Gruffydd, Managing Director of Menter Môn, an organisation that has identified connectivity as being a key issue for communities throughout Gwynedd and Ynys Môn, said:

” Our communities need fantastic connectivity to fully interact with the world. Full fibre technology will make a massive difference to local homes and businesses and it makes sense that any build programme is extended as far as possible.

“It’s good to see Openreach working with communities and we would encourage residents to consider pledging their vouchers and help us to make sure that nobody’s left behind.”

Full fibre technology provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity; meaning fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands. It's also future-proof, which means it will serve generations to come and won’t need to be upgraded for decades.

Fibre optics – strands of glass around one-tenth the thickness of a human hair – transmit data using light signals. Fibre is smaller, lighter and more durable than copper cabling and less vulnerable to damage. This short video explains what full fibre technology is.