Ayrshire communities urged to seize Full Fibre opportunity

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Openreach is urging people in nine Ayrshire communities to get behind bids to bring ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband to local homes and businesses.

By applying for free UK government broadband vouchers, the communities can secure the new technology and start enjoying the benefits in the next 12-18 months.

Just three more vouchers are needed for the scheme in Ballantrae to move one step closer, with 61 needed for Turnberry, Maidens and Dipple, and 35 for Southwood and Loans.

Openreach is also urging people in Maybole, New Cumnock and Whitefaulds to check if they are eligible for vouchers which can be used to bring ultrafast broadband to their area.

If enough people sign up, they will join more than 115,000 homes and businesses across Ayrshire who already have access to Full Fibre broadband.

Funding through the UK government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, the Scottish Government’s Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, and the deployment of innovative engineering techniques means thousands more remote, rural and coastal communities are now within reach of the ultrafast technology.

Openreach has identified the Ayrshire homes and businesses as being in scope for Full Fibre and is urging local people to take the next step by applying for, and pooling together, free UK government Gigabit Vouchers to help fund local builds.[1]

Residents can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.

Using the vouchers – which don’t cost residents anything – enables Openreach to work with a local community to build a customised, co-funded network.

Once enough people pledge and validate their vouchers, Openreach engineers will start the build. This can take up to 12-18 months, and some properties may go live before others. 

Stephen Chambers, Openreach Scotland rural engagement manager, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for these communities to bring all the benefits of ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband to their area.

“Our Fibre Community Partnership programme has meant that we’ve been able to potentially bring hundreds more communities across the UK into our Full Fibre build plans. But building out the network to these harder to reach locations is still challenging, which is why it’s only possible with everyone working together – you, your neighbours and Openreach.

“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make these communities among the best-connected places in the UK.

“We’re investing £15 billion to build full fibre broadband to 25 million homes – and more than six million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK – but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone. This support from the UK government is a vital part of that process.”

Once the pledge target for the scheme is reached, residents need to validate their vouchers with the UK government so Openreach can get building work under way.

As part of the funding conditions residents are asked to commit to ordering a Full Fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available, and confirm once they’re connected.

Full fibre technology provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity, meaning fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds; and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands. It's also future-proof, which means it will serve generations to come and won’t need to be upgraded for decades.

Fibre optics – strands of glass around one-tenth the thickness of a human hair – transmit data using light signals. Fibre is smaller, lighter and more durable than copper cabling and less vulnerable to damage. This short video explains what full fibre technology is and there’s more info here.

[1] the decision to build, the premises covered and the timeline are subject to technical survey and the correct threshold of validated vouchers being reached