Openreach Say FTTP Broadband Now Covers 90 Percent of N.Ireland

Openreach has confirmed that their new 1.8Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network has now covered 90% of Northern Ireland, which is up from 87% a year ago. The operator is currently still in the process of investing another £100m to push this figure up to 97% for a total of more than 830,000 homes and businesses (here).

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). Openreach has already completed coverage for over 18.3 million UK premises and they have an ambition to potentially reach up to 30 million by 2030.

However, the roll-out in N.Ireland isn’t only delivering in terms of coverage, with Openreach reporting that their full fibre network is already being used by over 64% of end customers in the country too. This compares extremely well with the operator’s figures for the whole of the UK, where their FTTP network now covers 55% of premises and that has delivered a still very respectable take-up of 35%.

Lauren McGaughey, Acting Director of Openreach NI, said:

“Reaching 90% Full Fibre coverage is a significant milestone and reflects our commitment to connecting Northern Ireland to world-class digital infrastructure. We’re not just building for today – we’re building for the future. Our focus is firmly on ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can benefit from fast, reliable, and sustainable connectivity.

The rollout of this technology is helping to level the playing field between urban centres and rural areas, giving people and businesses more freedom to choose where they operate and grow. From enabling more flexible working to driving environmental benefits through reduced commuting, Full Fibre is changing the way we live and work – and we’re proud to have reached this milestone.”

The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some providers have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

The work in N.Ireland, when combined with the ongoing FTTP deployments from rival networks (e.g. Netomnia, Fibrus and Virgin Media / nexfibre), will eventually extend full fibre coverage to around 99% of premises across Northern Ireland (nearly universal coverage).

Ofcom’s most recent data for January 2025 (here) revealed that 95% of premises in NI can already access a gigabit-capable broadband network (94% for just FTTP) and the regulator forecasts that this could reach the 98-99% mark by as soon as May 2026 (here).