Openreach Top 1 Million FTTP Broadband Premises in South West
Network operator Openreach (BT) has today announced that their 1.8Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network has now covered over 1 million premises across the South West of England (i.e. Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire), which reflects an investment of over £300m.
The deployment forms part of the operator’s wider £15bn investment to cover 25 million UK premises (80%+ of the UK) with their full fibre network by December 2026, including 6.2 million in rural and semi-rural areas (here), and they aspire to potentially reach up to 30 million by 2030. So far, the operator has already completed coverage for over 13 million UK premises and clearly the South West is responsible for a chunk of that.
To mark the milestone, the network provider has revealed the 20 locations in the region with the highest levels (%) of Full Fibre coverage, although annoyingly they haven’t provided any solid figures for each of the locations listed. Nevertheless, Alderbury, a small village with origins dating back to pre-historic times, tops the list, with more than nine out of ten premises there being covered.
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The medieval Cathedral City of Salisbury, just a few miles north-west of Alderbury, is just a fraction behind and ranks second, whilst the coastal village of Downderry in Cornwall and the popular seaside destination of Lynton and Lynmouth in North Devon rank third and fourth. Bristol South is fifth.
In terms of active build, Openreach’s engineers are currently working in Truro, Totnes, Portland, Tewkesbury, Devonport, Yeovil and Trowbridge to expand the reach of FTTP.
Martin Williams, Openreach’s Partnership Director for the South West, said:
“Our amazing engineers and build partners have done a wonderful job to help us reach this significant milestone. This Full Fibre upgrade is a huge boost for the South West. We’re adopting a balanced build, bringing ultrafast speeds to the region’s biggest cities and most rural and coastal communities – as this list proves. We’re not stopping at one million – and people in the South West should visit the Openreach website to see if they can upgrade to Full Fibre already, or see when we’re coming to their area.”
Openreach expects to add a total of 3.5 million premises to their UK FTTP coverage across the 2024 financial year, which they predict will rise to 4 million in FY25. The per premises build costs are expected to stay within their £250 to £350 model for at least this period / next two years (currently it’s £300 in the South West).
However, only around two in five homes and businesses which could upgrade to the new network across the South West have done so. Naturally, in order to benefit from the new network, you’d need to order the service from a supporting ISP like BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Zen Internet, iDNET, AAISP and many more.
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Top 20 locations for FTTP broadband in the South West
| Exchange area | County/Duchy/Unitary Authority |
| 1. Alderbury | Wiltshire |
| 2. Salisbury | Wiltshire |
| 3. Downderry | Cornwall |
| 4. Lynton | Devon |
| 5. Bristol South | Bristol |
| 6. Camelford | Cornwall |
| 7. Exminster | Devon |
| 8. Blunsdon | Swindon |
| 9. Bishopsworth | Bristol |
| 10. Stratton St. Margaret | Swindon |
| 11. Eastville | Bristol |
| 12. Shiphay Collaton | Torbay |
| 13. Beaminster | Dorset |
| 14. Bristol North | Bristol |
| 15. Ilminster | Somerset |
| 16. Bedminster | Bristol |
| 17. Westbury-On-Trym | Bristol |
| 18. Paignton | Torbay |
| 19. Okehampton | Devon |
| 20. Topsham | Devon |
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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I don’t see my town / village on the list and I live in South Devon. I know I have FTTP (does it count if it’s the pole). If so it’s everywhere.
If you look at the Think Broadband website you’ll see that this is the top 20 list, but on THINK Broadband they have included the percentages of cover
Don’t advertise that you have a pole.
One of two thinks will happen:
A) your area will get overbuilt to hell
B) someone will come and cheap the pole down (possibly due to A)
*chop
Build it and I will come! Living in a city of which the whole northern half has been abandoned by all providers, here’s your opportunity, Openreach. Now that CityFibre is in a mess and pausing their buildings, step in and fibre us up!
Openreach busy in Weston-super-Mare!
Long way to go in the South-West . . . Bridgewater, Honiton, Minehead, Barnstaple, Crediton, Exeter, Seaton, Sidmouth, Newton Abbot, Bovey Tracey, Torquay, Brixham, Dartmouth, Salcombe, Okehampton, Tavistock, Plymouth, Bude, Bodmin, Liskeard, Launeston, Looe, Padstow, Redruth, St Ives, Penzance, Falmouth and so on and so forth.
Would guess that the work content to install in this locations will well exceed that occurring at those locations listed at the head of the article.
Come to think about it . . Long way to go in London still. Still nothing heard about digital voice in South Harrow despite the “Pop-up” public events in one part of the borough before Xmas 2023 presaging its introduction.
But saw a healthy clutch of Openreach lorries/vans in Ruislip yesterday (No pavement works or pole erectors, so presume its digital voice ongoing there).
December 2026 has got to be optimistic for 80% UK installation, try 2030.
Digital voice does not need roadworks
The Ruislip work is full fibre.
I live 5 miles from Heathrow just outside Datchet and we don’t have any kind of fibre or decent mobile connection. My broadband is 4mb on copper wire which is pitiful this close to major airport. Yet 5 miles further away from the airport you can get massive speed. Why did they leave my village out of this rollout.
A question for all suppliers.
Still no FTTP coverage from Openreach in Filton and Patchway and only a half built network in Bradley Stoke, leaving old exchange only lines at 1 megabit. I’ve been forced to go back to Virgin to get a decent internet speed and deal with all the negatives of Virgin (Like No IPv6).