Openreach has announced plans to upgrade more of its Full Fibre network.
In a bid to bring faster broadband speeds and more capacity to millions of homes and businesses, the network provider plans to expand its use of XGS-PON technology, which can support broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps.
As a result, the upgrade will take Full Fibre beyond Openreach’s current top download speed of 1.8Gbps, with potential speeds of up to 8.5Gbps.
According to the company, these faster speeds available to more than one million premises over the next 12 months, following a previous rollout in March, where 40,000 homes and businesses in Guildford and the surrounding areas benefitted from an XGS-PON pilot.
Meanwhile, the company also has longer-term plans to extend the technology across around a third of its Full Fibre network over the next five years.
This will involve a mix of new network builds, upgrades to existing infrastructure and modernising equipment, however, this will be dependent on demand and customer feedback.
Openreach Director of Network Technology, Trevor Linney, said: “Our Full Fibre network already offers Gigabit-capable broadband to more than 23.4 million premises, and more than 9.4 million customers have upgraded so far.
“As demand for data continues to grow, our investment in XGS-PON technology will enable us to offer even higher speeds over the same network, and the additional capacity needed to support the UK’s digital future.
“By continuing to invest in upgrades, we’re delivering a platform that will power the next generation of technology, from AI-enabled services, smart homes and future mobile networks, to cloud-based business and public services.”
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