Openreach Boosts UK Full Fibre Broadband Build via Google Cloud AI Tools UPDATE

Network operator Openreach (BT) has moved to expand its existing partnership with Google Cloud, which involves adopting their AI (Artificial Intelligence) services to help plan the logistics and engineering for their ongoing deployment of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP technology.

The network operator is currently investing up to £15bn in deploying their full fibre technology to cover 25 million UK premises by the end of December 2026. After that, there’s a further ambition to reach up to 30 million premises by 2030 (the build plan and final coverage target for the 2027-2030 period has yet to be announced).

The challenge is that such a huge roll-out requires a lot of logistics and planning to organise in the most efficient way possible (i.e. deciding build routes, securing wayleaves, timing street works with road closures, truck rolls and fixing faults etc.). Suffice to say there’s a lot that goes into such deployments and AI is now helping to make this more efficient, which could save time and reduce deployment costs.

According to various reports, Google’s AI data tools are now being used to analyse routes, idling and fault patterns across its 24,000-van fleet, which covers almost 200 million miles (322 million km) a year.

James Tappenden, MD of Fibre First & Shared Services at Openreach, said:

“As the builder of the UK’s largest broadband network and operator of the country’s second largest commercial vehicle fleet, we take our responsibilities seriously. By applying Google Cloud’s technologies to real operational challenges, we’re seeing practical, measurable benefits — from connecting more families to gigabit broadband faster, to cutting vehicle emissions across our workforce.

This partnership is helping us work smarter, move quicker, and build a more sustainable network for the UK.”

Openreach claims the use of this system has already reduced unnecessary travel, which has helped to cut fuel use and support their transition to electric vehicles (EV); some 7,000 EV’s have already been deployed. But firm figures on exactly how much of an overall impact it’s had are yet to be provided, and we couldn’t find any official press releases on the development.

UPDATE 7:48am

The official press release just dropped to reveal that Openreach are specifically using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and BigQuery solutions.

Optimising the UK’s second-largest commercial fleet

With vehicles covering almost 200 million miles each year, Openreach has migrated its fleet telematics data to Google Cloud to drive meaningful sustainability and efficiency gains. By applying advanced geoanalytics, these initiatives are already cutting emissions and unnecessary mileage, while also generating millions of pounds in annual savings for its operations nationwide. Using BigQuery geoanalytics capabilities, Openreach can now:

• Accelerate its transition to electric vehicles: Openreach can now identify where electric vans can replace diesel vehicles most effectively, based on real-world usage, routes, and charging availability. Openreach’s rich cloud-based fleet data has helped roll out EVs at a significantly faster rate, with those extra EVs taking c10,000 tonnes of CO2e off the road every year.
• Reduce mileage and emissions: Openreach can pinpoint the root causes of idling and excessive travel to reduce fuel consumption, particularly in clean air zones.
• Improve fleet availability and efficiency: Openreach is able to minimise “vehicle off road” (VOR) time to ensure the right vehicles are available where they’re needed most.
• Enable proactive vehicle health:  Openreach can transform data into actionable insights to identify potential faults, creating a safer and more reliable fleet.