Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today revealed the top ten locations for coverage of their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in Kent (England), which sees the coastal town of Minster on the Isle of Sheppey top the table with “almost” 90% of all residents able to upgrade.
Openreach added that they deployed Subtended Headend (SHE) technology for two of the island’s exchanges (i.e. basically mini exchanges), installing ultrafast broadband optical signal boosting equipment. This meant a new fibre ‘spine’ didn’t have to be built over the Sheppey Crossing – disruptive work which would have taken months to complete.
Sadly, the Kent announcement is otherwise quite vague and doesn’t include any investment or take-up figures, which would have been useful to know. In addition, we don’t get any specific coverage figures for the other locations in their top list (see below), which is relevant because some of the locations may have a much lower level of coverage than those at the top of the table.
The operator claims to have so far deployed their new full fibre network across over 480,000 homes and businesses in Kent, with active build currently taking place in parts of Rainham, Gillingham, Medway/Chatham, Strood, Hoo, West Malling, Pembury, Snodland, Archers Court – Dover, Ashford, Canterbury, Cheriton, Dartford, Dymchurch, Folkestone, Hawkhurst, Sevington, Aylesford, Deal, Bearsted, Barming, Gravesend, Blue Bell Hill, Loose, Greenhithe, Newington, Swanley and Maidstone.
Andy Whale, Openreach Chief Engineer, said: “This Full Fibre upgrade is a huge boost for Kent. We’re adopting a balanced build, bringing ultrafast speeds to the county’s biggest cities and most rural communities. We’re not stopping our build – and people in Kent should visit the Openreach website to see if they can upgrade to Full Fibre already, or see when we’re coming to their area.”
Top 10 Locations for Openreach FTTP in Kent (Exchange area):
1. Minster on Sea
2. Sheerness
3. Hawkinge
4. Sevington
5. Deal
6. Sevenoaks
7. Sandwich
8. Faversham
9. Seal
10. West Kingsdown
Openreach’s service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some ISPs have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.