Derby leads the way as Openreach announces more ultrafast broadband pilot areas

People living in Derby will be amongst the first in the UK to benefit from the new Ultrafast broadband technology being developed by Openreach, BT’s local network business.

The company recently announced Derby as a pilot location for its new ultrafast technology, known as G.Fast, which provides download speeds of up to 330Mbps – more than 10 times the UK national average.

Openreach plans to make G.fast available to more than 10 million UK homes by the end of 2020, and news of the pilot has been given a warm welcome by Derby City Council.

Thousands of premises in Derby will be given access to the technology during 2017 with details about exactly where and when to be published shortly.

Councillor Ranjit Banwait, Leader of Derby City Council says of the announcement: “I am delighted that Derby has been chosen as one of the first pilot areas in the East Midlands for Openreach’s new ultrafast broadband. We have a proud history of being at the forefront of new technology, including being chosen as a super connected City in 2013. As part of that programme, the Council helped over 100 local businesses with broadband connectivity through a voucher scheme enabling them to access a faster higher grade broadband. Now we can look forward to many citizens of Derby being able to access broadband through this exciting G. Fast technology.”

Clive Selley, Openreach’s CEO, said: “The UK already leads the way when it comes to superfast broadband. More than nine out of ten homes and businesses already have access to superfast speeds with another 20,000 more premises being enabled each week, and we’re working hard to reach the rest, as well as starting to roll out ultrafast speeds.

“I’m pleased that Derby will be one of the first locations to get Ultrafast speeds using G.fast technology, it’s a technology we’ve chosen because it enables us to get an affordable Ultrafast service to as many people as possible in the fastest possible time.”

Early trials of G.fast have been taking place in Cambridgeshire, Newcastle and South Wales, and Openreach has just announced the 17 pilot areas – including Derby – to reach around 140,000 homes and businesses by the end of March 2017.

Openreach has already made fibre broadband available to more than 450,000 homes and businesses in Derbyshire, through a combination of the company’s investment and a partnership with the county council.

Across the UK, more homes and businesses are now using superfast broadband than in Germany, France, Italy or Spain, and the UK outperforms the EU’s five largest economies on measures such as availability, speeds and take-up according to Ofcom[1].

You can find out more about G. Fast at openreach.co.uk/ultrafast

[1]**Ofcom’s European Broadband Scorecard shows the UK is ranked as leader of the five major EU economies - France, Germany, Italy, Spain - on a range of independent broadband measures