Openreach to Deliver Universal FTTP Broadband Cover of Salisbury

Openreach (BT) has today announced that their “Fibre First” programme will cover the whole of Salisbury (Wiltshire, England) with Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology and it will aim to do so within just 12 months, which could be the fastest city-wide network build in the UK so far.

At present Openreach already has a little FTTP live in Salisbury from earlier work and their slower FTTC (VDSL2) network is nearly at universal coverage, although a small percentage of the latter cannot yet access “superfast” (24Mbps+) speeds; this new roll-out may correct that. Meanwhile Virgin Media’s cable network covers a little over half of the city.

Salisbury is of course a smaller “medieval cathedral city” in the southern English county of Wiltshire. The city is home to a population of around 40,000+ and some 22,000 premises, as such we can easily believe Openreach when they pledge to deliver “universal access” across the entire city and have “full fibre” services ready to order by April 2020. The roll-out is understood to cost c.£8m (roughly £363 per premises).

The commitment to universal access is important since Openreach, as well as most other full fibre operators, rarely achieve 100% coverage of entire cities in the first pass. The remaining gaps are often, but not always, filled in by later roll-out phases or rival networks (e.g. London still has a fair few gaps to fill).

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:

“Salisbury has a unique and inspiring history – from its medieval sites to its thriving cultural sector, it’s an icon of our national heritage – and now we’re laying the foundations for an even more exciting future. The city will be a focal point of our ambition to future proof the UK’s digital infrastructure and boost the country’s economic growth and productivity.

For Salisbury’s homes, shops, GP surgeries and schools, it will mean fewer broadband faults, faster connections, and a consistent reliable network that will serve the city for decades to come. From home-working to healthcare, digital trade to entertainment, the possibilities that a full fibre network can bring are almost limitless.

This is the first location in the UK where we’re aiming to upgrade an entire city network in a single year, so it’s a hugely ambitious project. As a medieval city, Salisbury’s narrow streets won’t be the easiest for our engineers to access and work in, but we’re confident that it’s achievable thanks to the close partnership we’ve built with the Council and the unrivalled experience and skill of our engineering teams.”

John Glen, MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire, said:

“Following early discussions I had with Openreach last year, I am absolutely delighted by their decision to make Salisbury the first Openreach city in the UK to gain access to full fibre broadband. Full fibre will significantly improve the attractiveness of Salisbury for companies looking for a location with cutting-edge connectivity, boosting the number of high-quality job opportunities for constituents.

With speeds of 1Gbps, I very much look forward to seeing how this investment will transform opportunities for local residents and businesses, as well as driving innovation in the provision of public services.”

So far Openreach have already deployed FTTP to cover more than 893,000 UK premises and their roll-out is officially running at a rate of +13,000 passed per week, rising rapidly (here). Overall the Fibre First programme aims to cover 3 million UK premises by the end of 2020 (March 2021 financial) and we’re currently expecting this target to be met (estimated cost of c.£1.2bn). Check out the latest list of their 25 roll-out areas (here and here).

The operator has also signalled that they could potentially reach 10 million premises passed by around 2025, although this is still dependent upon the outcome of on-going discussions with Ofcom and the Government. However it’s worth noting that the market for FTTP has become very competitive over the past two years and as such Openreach may have little choice but to continue their build past 2020, or risk being left behind.

Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

“The growing speed with which we connect online with our families, friends and work colleagues, not only brings us closer together, but it also provides huge benefits for our economy.

“I’m delighted that Salisbury will be the first UK city to gain universal access to the gold-standard of the internet – ultrafast full fibre – making it one of the most cutting-edge cities in the country. It’s vital that every family and business across the country can benefit from this new technology, which is why we’ve committed to deliver a nationwide full fibre network by 2033.”

Naturally locals in Salisbury will have to purchase a related product (once the network is live) in order to benefit and several ISPs are offering such packages. For example, there’s the obvious BT Ultrafast service but you can also buy Openreach based FTTP from Zen Internet, iDNET, AAISP, Freeola and Cerberus Networks etc.

Apparently a map of the network build in Salisbury should be live later this morning (we’ll add a link once it’s up). The news will also give Salisbury something generally more positive talk about than Novichok and Russian spies, which is nice.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/325001089