15
November
2022
|
12:31
Europe/Amsterdam

Bolsover MP gets to grips with Openreach broadband build

Mark Fletcher MP visits new build housing, where Openreach is making full fibre available

Bolsover MP Mark Fletcher has visited Openreach engineers to witness first-hand the innovative engineering techniques used to deliver Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband across his Bolsover constituency.

He was given a tour of the work, which has already reached thousands of homes and businesses in the local area, as well as tens of thousands more in other locations across Derbyshire.

Bolsover was included in Openreach’s full fibre build in May 2021. Since then, engineers have been working there and in other nearby places including Clowne, Chesterfield, Shirebrook and Staveley.

Meeting with the MP, the Openreach team were able to explain how the build in urban areas is happening alongside rural work, highlighting several recent announcements covering hundreds of thousands of local premises that are next in line to get full fibre broadband.

Mark Fletcher MP visited the local telephone exchange to look at where the Openreach network starts. He was able to find out more about how full fibre is future-proofing connections for many years to come, and even got to try his hand at joining two bits of fibre cable together.

Then it was on to Oxcroft Lane – a new build housing estate in Bolsover – where the MP was able to see how engineers are providing Ultrafast full fibre connection to hundreds of new homes.

MP Mark Fletcher, said: I was extremely grateful to Openreach for inviting me to see the work they are doing to improve and upgrade the provision of broadband in our area.

“I know from my inbox that this is a really important issue for many of my constituents and the progress, through technology, which is being made to deliver better and faster broadband is vital; vital not only to individuals and families within their homes, but also for the many small enterprises and businesses, who support our local economy, and for whom a good and reliable broadband connection is so important.”

The visit was hosted by Robert Rowan, partnership manager for Openreach in Derbyshire, who said: “We welcomed the opportunity to give Mark Fletcher MP a step-by-step demonstration of our technology. Our engineers work hard every day to keep communities across Derby, Derbyshire and the wider region connected, and it was great to be able to share the challenges and realities of delivering this technology.”

Openreach is building full fibre faster, at lower cost and higher quality than anyone else in the UK.

With download speeds of 1 Gbps, it’s up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection. That means faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.

You can also use multiple devices at once without experiencing slowdown – so more people in your household can get online at once. Even if the rest of your family are making video calls, streaming box sets or gaming online, all at the same time – you won’t experience stuttering, buffering or dropouts.

Full fibre is also less affected by peak time congestion – so you can enjoy your Saturday night blockbuster in 4K without the dreaded buffering screen.

Openreach is working to build and connect customers to the company’s ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband network - which is on track to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026.

The company plays an important role across the East Midlands region. More than 1,600 of our people live and work here. Recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) highlighted the clear economic benefits of connecting everyone in the East Midlands to full fibre. It estimated this would create a £3.5 billion boost to the local economy.

This short video explains what Full Fibre technology is and you can find out more about our Fibre First programme, latest availability and local plans here.