Sam Rowlands MS recently joined up with some of the Openreach engineers that have been busy building a new ultrafast full fibre broadband network across North Wales.
He was given a tour of the work, which is making faster and more reliable ‘full fibre’ broadband available to homes and businesses in the local area. Around 76% of premises across Flintshire can already benefit from Openreach’s investment which when complete will total around £17 million* and bring some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds to the area.
The tour started with a quick visit to the telephone exchange in Mold where the full fibre network journey that connects properties in the area, begins.
At the exchange the MS for North Wales was able to see up close the art of fibre splicing – where two ends of fibre optic glass cable no wider than a human hair are fused together. This delicate piece of engineering plays a vital role in Openreach’s Full Fibre network that’s already connected nearly 12m properties across the UK.
After the Mold exchange it was a short journey through the town to see the ‘final stage’ of the Openreach full fibre network and opportunity to talk to local engineers that are delivering this game changing technology to communities across North Wales.
With this investment, residents and businesses in Mold and beyond can expect improved connectivity, reduced latency, and the ability to utilize bandwidth-intensive applications and services. Ultrafast broadband can also attract new businesses, promote economic growth, and enhance digital inclusion by providing equal opportunities for education, employment, and innovation.
Sam Rowlands MS said:
“I’m pleased to see the progress being made by Openreach to deliver full fibre across Mold and the rest of North Wales.
“It’s a significant investment by Openreach which is great news for local people living and working in the area.
“Full fibre is without doubt the future of connectivity and the fact that Openreach is investing heavily in the area is to be welcomed.
“I look forward to even more progress being made so that all of my constituents can have the best access to digital services for employment, education and entertainment, as soon as possible.”
The visit was hosted by Martin Williams, Partnership Director for Wales, who said:
“We welcomed the opportunity to give Sam an overview of our ultrafast network. Our investment in Flintshire demonstrates Openreach’s commitment to improving digital infrastructure and bridging the digital divide. Our engineers work hard every day to keep communities across Flintshire and the rest of Wales connected, and it was great to be able to share the challenges and realities of delivering this technology.
“I would urge everyone in the local area to keep an eye on the build locally to see when full fibre is available to them. They can visit the Openreach fibre checker, which is regularly updated with our build progress and when full fibre is available in specific areas.”
Openreach is leading the full fibre charge in Wales to build an ultrafast network that is faster, better and more affordable than ever.
With download speeds of 1 Gbps, it’s 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.
You can also use multiple devices at once without experiencing slowdown – so more people in your household can get online at once. Even if the rest of your family are making video calls, streaming box sets or gaming online, all at the same time – you won’t experience stuttering, buffering or dropouts.
Full fibre is also less affected by peak time congestion – so you can enjoy your Saturday night blockbuster in 4K without the dreaded buffering screen.
About Openreach in Wales
Openreach is on track to reach 25 million UK homes and businesses with access to Full Fibre ultrafast broadband and has already reached nearly 750,000 properties across Wales.
With a workforce of around 2,300 in Wales, Openreach already employs the nation’s largest team of telecoms engineers and professionals.
Across Wales more than 35% of homes and businesses have already ordered a full fibre service from a range of retail service providers using the Openreach network. But this means that thousands more could be benefiting from some of the fastest, most reliable broadband connections in Europe and have yet to upgrade.
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 Welsh 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.
