Openreach has added a further 21 locations to its full-fibre broadband rollout, the company announced.
The extension forms part of a plan to connect up to five million more homes and businesses by next March.
The new locations cover around 80,000 rural and urban premises across the country, including:
- Innsworth, in Gloucestershire
- Silverdale, St Michael's on Wyre and Belmont, in Lancashire
- Basildon, Dedham and Harlow, in Essex
- Cheriton Bishop, in Devon
- Allendale Town, in Northumberland
- Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk
- Potter Heigham and Stoke Ferry, in Norfolk
- Woburn Sands and Brill, in Buckinghamshire
- Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire
- Prees, in Shropshire
- Carno, in Powys
- Worcester, in Worcestershire
- Coventry, in West Midlands
- Didcot and Sutton Courtenay, in Oxfordshire
The company is reaching an average of 85,000 new premises every week.
“This is a UK infrastructure success story, so it makes sense for us, and the country, to push hard on the accelerator pedal,” Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, said.
“Our new network is helping to drive economic growth, create jobs, and will be the backbone of a prosperous, globally connected and competitive UK.
“Last year was our biggest year of build ever – reaching well over four million homes with this life changing technology.”
In April, Openreach warned that around one million people in regions across the UK could be “left behind” on digital connectivity due to red tape blocking broadband upgrades to flats and apartments.
The company said hundreds of thousands of homes across London could be affected, as well as areas such as the Tees Valley, where so-called multi-dwelling units (flats or subdivided houses) risk missing out.
Selley said: “While the majority of homes and businesses in the Tees Valley are going to benefit from our massive investment in transformational broadband technology, tens of thousands of flats are at risk of missing out.
“It’s frustrating that we’ve built our full-fibre network right to the ‘front door’ of most of these properties, but we can’t get inside.
“It’s possible that some people will be stuck with slower connections for years whilst their neighbours enjoy ultra-fast, ultra-reliable broadband, which research suggests will boost productivity and prosperity.”
Openreach said a change in the law would unlock many of the estimated one million premises in UK flats or subdivided houses where it has built Full Fibre to the door but has not been able to gain access.
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