Barratt Developments teams with Hyperoptic, Openreach, Virgin

LONDON – Barratt Developments, Britain's biggest house builder, has partnered with Hyperoptic to install its full fibre broadband as part of the build process for all of its new build homes. Hyperoptic's infrastructure will be installed alongside Openreach and Virgin Media, which means home-movers will enjoy a best-in-class choice of over 18 different Internet Service Providers (ISPs), delivering the fastest, most reliable speeds and greatest range of packages, contract options and costs.

The partnership covers all future Barratt new build homes. It supports the obligations outlined in the amended Building Regulations 2010, which legislates that all new homes should have gigabit broadband as standard.

Only 18 per cent of the UK has access to the gold-standard of 'full fibre' broadband. The government is aiming for 85 per cent of homes to have access to a gigabit broadband connection by 2025. With full fibre, the service is faster and more reliable, which means residents can have the best Internet experience possible.

Hyperoptic has been pioneering the shift to full fibre. It was the first company to offer consumers gigabit-capable broadband service, which is over 12x faster than the UK average. Over the last decade, it has partnered with over 250 developers and 50 councils to install its full fibre service into new and existing properties. It's the only provider to pre-install its router equipment into new build developments so that home-movers can get online as soon as they move in. Its team has achieved 99 per cent 'same day' connectivity for the last four years running.

Hyperoptic conducted its own research and found that broadband is now a valued utility on a par with water, gas and electricity in terms of importance to the public. From a survey of 2,000 homeowners, 86 per cent claim that having a decent connection in their property is 'important' to them whilst 64 per cent said they would be ‘put off’ by a home with slow Wi-Fi. Overall, over half (54 per cent) said they are 'more likely' to purchase or move into a property with a good internet connection.

Liam McAvoy, Senior Director of Business Development, Hyperoptic: "People moving into Barratt homes will be getting the choice of three broadband infrastructure providers and a large number of full fibre ISPs. This is a great example of developer best practice. A full fibre connection digitally future proofs the property. The experience is seamless, which means you don’t even need to think about your connectivity, whether you are homeworking, virtual learning or streaming. It just sits as the heart of the connected home.

"As a growing alternative network provider, we are pleased to be part of this 'trio' of infrastructure options offered by Barratt. We are committed to differentiating ourselves by ensuring our router equipment is pre-installed and ready for when the home-mover walks through the door – so they can start living their normal connected life straight away. We are also proud to underpin our industry-leading customer support, which is demonstrated by our 5* Trustpilot rating and leading NPS score."

Steven Boyes, chief operating officer at Barratt Developments, said: "We're really pleased to be able to offer this new unified service to our customers and Hyperoptic has been integral to that. Delivering different full fibre services on a site by site basis can sometimes cause problems for customers, so by coming together to build a unified system with Barratt it will deliver a much better service, benefitting everyone.

"Particularly now when everyone relies on fast and reliable broadband this new service will mean customers can enjoy their new home even more. A unified service with multiple providers hasn't been delivered in the housebuilding industry before so it is testament to Hyperoptic for their hard work and vision in helping making this happen. As the country's leading housebuilder we’re proud to be offering this industry-first to our customers when they need it most."

Hyperoptic

Openreach

Virgin Media