Openreach Spreads FTTP Broadband Across Perth in Scotland

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today announced that the first 5,000 premises (homes and businesses) across Perth in Scotland can now access their new 1.8Gbps capable full fibre broadband ISP network. But thousands more are planned in the city and across more rural parts of the county over the next 12 months.

In case anybody has forgotten, Perth was only added to Openreach’s UK rollout plan in September 2023 (here) and the operator has since been busy expanding their network to deliver on that. The first 5,000 premises in the city have now gone live and engineers also plan to start work on major builds for nearby Coupar Angus and Crieff this autumn, which will join the 17,000 already able to access their FTTP network across Perth and Kinross.

Work is also ongoing in several more locations as part of the Scottish Government’s £600 million Reaching 100% programme, including in Aberfeldy and Bridge of Gaur. Further R100 upgrades are due to start later this year around Blairgowrie and Rattray. In addition, Openreach is separately working on Fibre Community Partnerships (FCP) in Glencarse, Gellybank, Fossoway and Blairadam, where it is helping to co-fund the local builds.

However, it’s worth noting that Openreach is NOT the only gigabit-capable broadband network in Perth, which is a city that has also been covered by Virgin Media’s infrastructure. But otherwise, Perth generally hasn’t had a lot of gigabit class network choices, until now.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach Partnership Director for Scotland, said:

“We’ve got a lot of work either under way or planned across Perth and Kinross, so we want to let local people know what to expect. We’re looking to upgrade as many homes and businesses as possible while our teams are working locally, so residents will spot more engineers, technicians, equipment and vans.

We work hard to build safely and limit disruption, with loads of support from Perth and Kinross Council. Wherever we can, we use our existing network of ducts and poles to avoid roadworks, digging and disturbance. But there may be places where we have to put in new poles or underground ducts and cables if it’s the only way to include some people in the upgrade.”

The service itself, once live, can be ordered via various broadband ISPs, such as BT, EE, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not usually offered as an automatic upgrade, although some ISPs are doing free upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

Openreach’s build partner Morrison Telecom Services (MTS) is helping to deliver the Perth roll-out.