Harborough MP Neil O’Brien met Openreach recently to find out about the rollout of ultrafast full fibre broadband in Market Harborough and the surrounding areas. He visited the BT exchange in Abbey Street in the town to see for himself the work Openreach are currently undertaking to upgrade broadband customers from the traditional copper connection to full fibre. Following the visit, he then met with Openreach engineers as they worked to upgrade the connections to properties near Gores Lane. In the Harborough district, 75% of households now have access to gigabit broadband, which can reach speeds of 1Gbps, but work is carrying on at pace to deliver ultrafast broadband to as many households as possible.
Neil commented: “I was incredibly impressed with the speed in which Openreach are working to rollout full fibre across the area. In 2019, virtually nobody had access to gigabit broadband, but now 75% of households in our district do. This is remarkable when you consider that this was hampered by the pandemic. A further 20,000 homes locally are due to be connected in the next year.
“The importance of every household having full fibre is as important as ever, with more people working from home, as well as an increase in users streaming, gaming and generally requiring much more bandwidth than was the case just a few short years ago.
“I loved meeting the engineers in Market Harborough who were all incredibly passionate about the job they do, and I pay tribute to them in delivering this huge infrastructure project. Openreach have also trained around 10,000 apprentices nationally to help with the rollout.
“I will continue to work closely with Openreach to ensure that every part of the constituency has access to fastest broadband possible.”
Any resident wishing to check if they have been upgraded, or to register their interest, can visit Openreach’s website here: https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband
