“This year we’ve continued to build our new network and our purpose and strategy at Openreach remain the same,” Garret says. “We keep Northern Ireland connected and we’re building the next generation of digital infrastructure, already providing over 87% of properties across Northern Ireland with the ability to upgrade to Ultrafast Full Fibre. This further £100 million investment programme will significantly extend the Openreach footprint in Northern Ireland to 97% without the need for any additional government funding, taking overall Full Fibre coverage across the region to circa 99%.” he says.
Core to this investment is Openreach’s commitment to ensuring Northern Ireland has a future-proof broadband network capable of meeting ever increasing demands.
Garret adds: “We’re very focused on our goal, because we know it will deliver the best possible outcome for our customers and help power Northern Ireland’s growth and ambition for the decades ahead. The digital future of Northern Ireland is extremely positive. We remain the most connected region in the UK, supporting inward investment, and this expansion programme will allow for a focus on providing access to an increased number of hard-to-reach rural areas that traditionally have more limited access to a fast and reliable broadband connection.”
Openreach’s ambitious plan extension is central to Northern Ireland’s digital future and economic growth.
Garret says: “We’re delighted to be announcing this significant investment to our commercial build programme. This final push will continue to have a transformative impact seen right across Northern Ireland, with some very remote rural areas being able to access Full Fibre technology for the first time.
“This technology opens up endless opportunities. By supporting business and domestic access to the right level of connectivity regardless of location, people have improved choices on where to live and work, which will in turn accelerate a rebalancing of growth across our urban and local rural communities.
“It will also support a sustainable future with more and more people able to work flexibly leading to less congestion and lessening the other associated impacts of mass commuting on our environment.
“We’re serious about being a more responsible business, and here in Northern Ireland we already have 100 electric vehicles on the road, with many more to join the fleet this year. We’re reducing our energy consumption and waste by using goods that are from recycled sources and by partnering with our key suppliers to cut packaging and single use plastics from our supply chain. We’ve even begun our first solar panels pilot at one of our exchanges and are proud that we use 100% renewable power.”
The added investment to the Openreach build programme will mean that Openreach can continue to invest in their people.
Garret adds: “As ever, our 1,000 people are at the heart of our business. We continue to invest heavily in training and developing our existing workforce, we’ve already retrained hundreds of copper-skilled engineers to work on our new Full Fibre network and we’ve made substantial progress on becoming more inclusive and diverse. We know this is a long journey for a business and industry like ours, but we’re committed to building a workplace that fully represents the communities we serve across Northern Ireland.”
Openreach is determined and leading the way to building a better, faster, and more connected future for everyone in Northern Ireland. Already well established as a core utility within communities, Ultrafast Full Fibre is enjoyed by more than 50% of people on our network here and the infrastructure is in place for many more end customers to speak to their service providers about upgrading their broadband connection.
Visit www.openreach.co.uk to find out if you can upgrade to Ultrafast Full Fibre.
Openreach Director Garret Kavanagh
Advertisement
