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Infrastructure provider Openreach has confirmed details of 67 additional locations that are set to receive full fibre broadband as part of its Fibre Cities rollout.
The work will be carried out over the next two years in towns across the UK, from Alloway in Ayrshire, to Helsby in Cheshire, and Ivybridge in South Devon. Work is set to begin in March 2021.
Chief executive of the company Clive Selley said Openreach continues to make "great strides" in its rollout of full fibre technologies, despite the difficulties that have been created by the pandemic.
He added: "This new digital platform can help the UK’s economy bounce back quicker from the Covid-19 crisis and, whilst a full recovery is likely to be measured in years rather than months, there’s strong evidence that full fibre broadband could help to turbo-charge that process."
As well as faster connections, Mr Selley said the new network will ensure home, shops, schools, doctors' surgeries and more will have to deal with fewer faults due to a more reliable network that will be the backbone of the UK's connectivity for decades to come.
Meanwhile, Openreach has also introduced a new simplified overview of its full fibre programme on its website, which includes indicative maps to illustrate where builds are taking place.
This will provide stakeholders, such as communication providers and council planners, with valuable information about the pace of the rollout, which will enable them to make better-informed decisions about their fibre-to-the-premises investments. In turn, this will also help more people take advantage of the new services when they arrive.
Available information includes details of the specific exchanges where FTTP is currently being built, has already been built, or where building will start within the next three months. This data will be updated on a rolling basis, including new tranches of build when appropriate.
So far, Openreach has already delivered full fibre broadband to more than three million premises throughout the UK, of which over a quarter are classified as in the hardest-to-reach areas.
The company noted that since February 2018, its engineers have deployed around 2.6 million kilometres of fibre - enough to travel to the moon and back three times.
