Fibre Community Partnership
A Full Fibre option for communities outside of build plans
Partner with us to get faster Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband to you and your community.
Is your community not in any Ultrafast Full Fibre build plan? Don't worry, there's still hope.
We’re proud that our Fibre Community Partnership (FCP) programme is helping to connect people all over the country.
It's an option that we offer to communities that are outside of our own build plans or the plans of other companies and publicly subsidised projects.
Partner with us to get faster Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband to you and your community
All you need to do is use our Fibre Checker to express your interest in Ultrafast Full Fibre. You can do this by selecting ‘keep me updated’ after you receive your result. If you’re eligible for a Fibre Community Partnership, we’ll send you an email with all the information you’ll need to get started. If you don’t receive an email inviting you to register for a Fibre Community Partnership, don't worry we'll keep you updated if anything changes.
Express your interest in Ultrafast Full Fibre
All you need to do is use our Fibre Checker to express your interest in Ultrafast Full Fibre. You can do this by selecting ‘keep me updated’ after you receive your result.
What would Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband give me and my community?
Next generation Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband is our fastest and most reliable broadband. At 1 Gbps it's up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband speed. This means you and your family have the freedom to work, game, stream, and chat all at once, without skipping a beat. It also comes with the option of a future-proof digital phone line so you and your community will be ready to meet all the demands of our increasingly digital world.
What is a Fibre Community Partnership?
A Fibre Community Partnership is how we offer Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband to areas which aren't part of our current rollout plans. We work with the local community to arrange a customised installation plan - whether it's installing new fibre for the first time, or to upgrade existing connections.
Why partner with Openreach?
We've already delivered fibre broadband to thousands of homes and businesses across the UK through our Fibre Community Partnership programme. We'll help you with joint funding arrangements, which means the costs are spread between Openreach, UK government's Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and your community. We’ll then build the most affordable solution that also meets your needs.
Our Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband network is the UK's largest network. It uses the most advanced fibre technology and because it's an open network, offers maximum choice and value. - This means you can choose from any of the service providers in your area and get the package that suits you best.
How you can partner with us
There are three ways of funding a Fibre Community Partnership. If you're eligible, we'll help you find out which would be the best fit:
- Voucher Funded – using UK Government funding from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
- Community Funded - co-funded by the community and Openreach
- Community and Voucher Funded - using a combination of UK Gigabit Vouchers and co-funding by the community and Openreach.
Voucher funded Fibre Community Partnership
Under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme, being run by Building Digital UK (BDUK), an executive agency of the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), every eligible rural home, small business and sole trader can get a voucher. Eligible properties can get a voucher worth up to £4,500. In some areas voucher values may be eligible for an additional top-up funded by the local council. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme address checker will indicate if this applies to you. The vouchers are free, but Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme eligibility criteria and terms and conditions apply.
How do I know if my community could get vouchers?
If you think a Fibre Community Partnership could work in your area, please fill in an Expression of Interest form. Once you’ve registered, we’ll review your community and let you know if the addresses you’ve listed meet the criteria for UK government funding from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. We’ll also let you know if your community is eligible for a fully funded voucher scheme. This means that if all the listed addresses pledge and validate their vouchers and have Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband installed, the value of the vouchers paid by the government would cover the costs in full. Your community wouldn’t need to pay a penny more.
Once we know your community is eligible, we’ll put in a funding application to the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme on your behalf. When this has been secured, we’ll create an online portal for your community to pledge their vouchers and share the link with you at the right point in the process.
What your community would need to do and when
Your community will need to work together to achieve the target number of pledged and validated vouchers required to cover the cost of the network build. This means it’s important to involve as many people in the community as possible – the more people involved, the more funding is available towards the pledge target.
The Pledging Process
Pledging your vouchers couldn’t be easier. Just go to the online portal built for your community, type in your postcode and complete a short form with your personal details.
By pledging your voucher you're agreeing to the Pledge terms and conditions.
Hitting the community target
The delivery of your scheme is subject to technical survey, and achieving the required number of validated pledges. This means that if your community is eligible for vouchers it’s important to come together, and pledge your vouchers, and validate your details when asked.
Keeping your voucher application on track
Please tick the relevant boxes when you place your pledge, to grant us permission to communicate with you via email and SMS. You can unsubscribe at any time.
We'll only share your details with the UK government as part of your voucher application, and they'll use them to communicate with you at key stages of the process. They will ask you to validate your pledge and to confirm when your service has been installed.
Communications from the BDUK, the executive agency of the UK government which managed the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme will be sent from funding.platform@notifications.service.gov.uk. Please respond to these to keep your voucher application on track.
Your data will be managed in line with Openreach’s privacy policy.
Building the network
If the pledged and validated vouchers hit the target set out, we’ll proceed to the planning stage of the build process. However, if the value of the validated pledges doesn’t cover the cost of the build, the scheme may be rescoped subject to survey and targets achieved.
Placing your order
Once the network has been built, everyone who pledged their voucher will need to place an order for Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband and confirm when their service has been installed with the UK government. Only then will the value of the voucher be passed to Openreach.
If someone has pledged a voucher and then decides not to place an order for any reason, then they may be liable for the value of their voucher as per the pledge terms.
Community funded Fibre Community Partnership
If you’re not eligible for the UK government funding from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, your community can still come together and explore a co-funded full fibre option with us.
With our help, arranging a Fibre Community Partnership with Openreach couldn't be easier. We'll work with you to provide costs for delivering Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband to your community.
Once funding is arranged, a Legal Entity for the community will need to be formed and enter into a contract with Openreach.
Community and voucher funded Fibre Community Partnership
Occasionally a combination of UK Gigabit Vouchers from the government's Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and community raised funds is needed to fund the network build.
This can come about because not all of the properties in the area are eligible for vouchers or because too few UK Gigabit Vouchers have been pledged.
We’ll be there to support both you and the community at this stage - we'll answer any questions and make sure that the community’s voucher application goes through and is ready to go once the network is live.
You'll also need to create a Legal Entity and enter into a contract with Openreach so that you’re in a position to pay the funding shortfall.
Fibre Community Partnership - Step by step guide
Check your postcode and express your interest
Check your postcode and express your interest
Enter your postcode into the postcode checker above to see if your area's already in our plans to roll our Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband.
If you’re not currently in our plans for Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband, then a Fibre Community Partnership could be a good alternative. Just register your interest with us through the fibre checker and we'll get in touch if you are eligible for a Fibre Community Partnership scheme.
Get local support
Get local support
Once you've registered we'll review your community and let you know what type of partnership would be a good fit. We'll also take you through the next steps that you'll need to take.
It's important to remember that, no matter what type of partnership is best for your community, they all rely on local backing. Talk to your neighbours and local businesses about the benefits of fibre broadband and start drumming up support. We’ll provide some advice on how to do this.
Voucher funded partnership
Voucher funded partnership
In this scheme, your community need to come together to pledge and validate their vouchers to cover the cost of the build. If the community falls short of the required target then the scheme may be rescoped, and all or some of the properties withdrawn from the plan.
It’s important to understand that individuals should only pledge their voucher if they intend to buy an Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband service once the build is complete. They’ll need to validate their pledge and confirm when their service has been installed for the UK government's Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to release the value of the voucher to Openreach.
If someone pledges and validates their voucher but decides not to place an order for any reason, they may be liable for the value of their voucher as per the pledge terms.
Partnerships involving community funding
Partnerships involving community funding
For partnerships involving any community funding we’ll estimate the cost of bringing full fibre to your area. We’ll cover some of the costs and also take into account any voucher funding that your community may be eligible for. The price we estimate for you will be what we call ‘the gap’ - this just means it's the amount your community will need to pay, as opposed to the total cost.
You’ll now need to share this with your community. If any properties are eligible for government funding from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme get them to pledge as soon as possible. You might also want to talk to other local people or businesses about helping with funding, if you haven’t done that already.
Once you know whether your community wants to go ahead or not you'll need to tell us, you're not committed to anything at this point.
Now it’s time to get the community together to raise the money. We can help you with fundraising ideas as we know what's been successful in other partnerships.
You’ll need to pay 50 per cent of the community-funded costs when you sign the contract. Then you’ll pay the rest of the balance when we finish the installation - usually, this is around a year after signing the contract.
Plan and build through to place your order
Plan and build through to place your order
Whatever type of partnership you have, once funding has been confirmed and any contracts signed, it’s over to our Openreach engineers to build the infrastructure. This won’t happen overnight, with the average network build taking 12-18 months – but we’ll keep you updated every step of the way. Please note, vouchers from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme will expire after 12 months.
As soon as everything’s in place, you’ll be able to order service from any of the broadband providers that sell in your area. Remember, the government will only pay the value of pledged and validated UK Gigabit Vouchers when residents have confirmed that the service has been installed. Any voucher-funded properties that don't order a service may be liable to pay the value of the voucher.
The small print
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