Fastest broadband in the UK speeds towards new Northamptonshire housing developments

More than 1300 homes in new housing developments across Northamptonshire are set to get some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK following a deal between Openreach and housing developers.

Openreach, the company responsible for the majority of the UK’s local phone and broadband network, is answering a call to build fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology capable of ultrafast speeds up to 1Gbps for properties on sites in Kettering, Northampton and Thrapston.

The agreements are part of an Openreach initiative agreed with the UK Government and the Home Builders Federation to connect all UK new housing developments of 30 properties or more with ultrafast fibre broadband.

Kim Mears, managing director of infrastructure delivery at Openreach, said: “An ultrafast broadband network will be a major boost for these new developments by ensuring that people living and working there have quick access to some of the fastest speeds available.

“It reflects our commitment to ensuring that Northamptonshire and the UK has a first-class network, capable of delivering the latest communication services for households, businesses and other organisations.

“We know that people are passionate about the speed and reliability of the broadband service their communication provider can offer them and that, for some, the availability of ultrafast speeds will strongly influence their decision on which new property to buy.”

One of the developments in Northamptonshire is taking place in Overstone, where David Wilson Homes is developing land on the outskirts of the village, adjacent to nearby Moulton. When finished, ‘The Avenue’ will feature 200 properties – made up of 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes. Work started in July 2016, with the first residents moving in just six months later.

Lee Willers, engineering manager at David Wilson Homes South Midlands, said: “We’re extremely pleased that thanks to this deal the many benefits of living at The Avenue will include access to some of the UK’s fastest broadband speeds.”

As part of ambitious plans to make ultrafast broadband speeds available to 12 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020 – Openreach will now build an FTTP network for free to all new housing developments with 30[1] or more homes. This is dependent on developers registering their site with Openreach and working together early in the building process. Openreach expects to connect new homes within nine months of contracting with a developer.

Any developments with two or more homes will have access to the company’s existing or planned fibre infrastructure, either funded entirely by Openreach or, where necessary, with the help of co-funding from the developer.

Find out more about ultrafast broadband at www.openreach.co.uk/ultrafast

Ends

[1]Construction of Fibre to the Premises infrastructure (the ducting, poles and wires) will be carried out for free on developments of more than 30 premises. Standard connection and ongoing service provider charges will apply and excess construction charges will continue to apply where the site is more than 4.5 kilometres from Openreach’s existing fibre network.