Jonathan Edwards MP for Carmarthenshire East & Dinefwr has visited Openreach engineers to witness first-hand the innovative engineering techniques being used to deliver Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband across his constituency.
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. Nearly 35% of premises across his constituency can already benefit from some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds available.
Jonathan Edwards MP visited the telephone exchange in Carmarthen to look at where the Openreach network for a large part of his constituency starts. He was able speak with engineers and find out more about how full fibre is future-proofing connections for many years to come.
Then it was on to Llangunnor, where the MP was able to try his hand at joining two bits of fibre cable together, and witness first-hand how engineers are playing a key role by providing Ultrafast full fibre connections to thousands of homes and businesses.
Jonathan Edwards MP said:
“This investment is good news for the county and it was great to see how local Openreach engineers are installing Full Fibre broadband in the area.”
“This much needed technology will enable us to compete with other areas from across the UK as it’ll enable more people to work from home and help attract investment.
“I will continue to work with Openreach as they roll out upgrades across the constituency.”
The visit was hosted by Geraint James, rural engagement manager for Openreach in Wales, who said:
“We welcomed the opportunity to give Jonathan Edwards MP a step-by-step demonstration of our technology. Our engineers work hard every day to keep communities across Carmarthenshire and 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 building full fibre faster, at lower cost and higher quality than anyone else in the UK.
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 by December 2026 and has already reached more than 500,000 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 100,000 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:
