The milestone was reached in the town of Ketton in Rutland, England and is part of a £15 billion infrastructure project to update constituencies across the UK with means to meet the needs of modern life. 

Since 2020, the UK’s internet usage has increased each year, and there are now over 63.5 million internet users according to this report.  As a result, an increased number of jobs have become available online as well as an increase in remote education. 

Openreach has serviced over three million premises in hard to reach, rural areas in the country. This, as well as a further three million homes that the government identified in need of updating, with regards to the infrastructure that serves them.

The upshot of an increased and updated broadband infrastructure is an estimated 431,000 new workers able to enter the workforce in a remote capacity by 2026. As well as an estimated £72 billion boost to the UK economy by 2030, according to a report. 

“Not only will access to full fibre technology improve the speed and reliability of the internet connections used by people, businesses and public services, it also provides us with the infrastructure we need to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world,” said Openreach CEO Clive Selley.

He added: “With this upgrade, we can improve the lives of people in the UK, offering economic opportunities, alleviating social challenges and creating the foundation for life-changing technology.”

Broadband internet is a physical connection that runs to a property. It is capable of the high speed data transmission that is needed for activities like video conferencing and streaming.

Broadband is significantly better than older dial up methods of internet connection, and there are already over 27.3 million fixed broadband lines across the UK according to a report, meaning 99% of UK homes now have access to internet speeds above 10Mbps. 

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The milestone comes on the backdrop of an investigation into the regulatory issues surrounding Openreach’s fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) Equinox 2 pricing which would lower product prices by up to 15%. Ofcom – the regulatory and competition authority for telecommunications – extended the time to make a final decision on the matter by two months.

The decision will be made in balancing the interests of the UK’s needed access to affordable broadband connection, against the telecommunications markets’ anti-competitive conduct. 

Looking forward, Openreach has plans and hopes to reach over 25 million premises.