MILLIONS of Brits have been warned of a major upgrade to their broadband service as part of a huge switchover to boost speeds.
BT-owned Openreach has revealed a further 163 new exchange locations where it plans to stop the sale of traditional copper-based phone and broadband.
2
2
Instead, customers will be encouraged to switch to ultrafast full fibre.
The move will affect a number of providers who rely on Openreach’s cables – including BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone – and their customers.
Openreach has given the companies a year’s notice that it will no longer be selling legacy analogue products and services where full fibre becomes available to a majority of premises.
With 163 exchange locations earmarked for switchover, the total now stands at over 1,500 across the UK.
Read more about broadband
The new bunch covers around 1.6million premises across the UK.
And by the start of June, more than eight million premises will have full fibre available and copper products cannot be sold.
“We’re moving to a digital world and Openreach is helping with that transformation by rolling out ultrafast, ultra-reliable, and future-proofed digital full fibre across the UK,” said James Lilley, Openreach’s managed customer migrations manager.
“This game-changing technology will become the backbone of our economy for decades to come, supporting every aspect of our public services, businesses, industries, and daily lives.
“Already, our full fibre network is available to 18 million homes and businesses, with 6.5 million premises currently taking a service.
“The programme is a critical part of ensuring that the UK’s communication infrastructure is ready to meet the demands of the future.”
It comes as regulator Ofcom announced that full-fibre broadband is on course to become available to almost the entire country by 2027.
Bosses have shared proposals to boost competition in the sector so smaller operators have a better chance.
“The roll out of full fibre across the UK is a British infrastructure success story,” said Natalie Black, Ofcom’s Group Director for Networks and Communications.
“Four years ago, less than a quarter of UK homes and offices had access, and it now stands at nearly seven in 10.
“But we do not take this momentum for granted, and today we are setting out how we can work with the sector to finish the job.
“It means that people and businesses in nearly all corners of the country will get faster, better broadband, fuelling economic growth and enabling technologies like artificial intelligence to benefit everyone.”
Is my area affected?
Here’s a list of all the exchange names and exchange locations
