Cambridgeshire connects to full-fiber broadband

LONDON – People living and working in parts of Ely, Glinton and Helpston can now upgrade to some of the fastest, most reliable broadband connections available anywhere in the UK.

The areas were announced (January 2020) as some of 22 East of England locations to benefit from Openreach's full fibre build, following trials to find new ways of building the network in ‘hard to reach’ areas. The trials – in nearby Suffolk and Bedfordshire – were a huge success and have since led to hundreds of new full fibre locations being announced across the UK.

Engineers have been building the new network for around nine months, so far installing 300 kilometres of fibre cables, providing thousands of local homes and businesses across the three locations with full fibre broadband.

The build is around 25 per cent complete, and work to make 'Gigabit-capable' full fibre broadband available continues for the next 12 months. Available to order from a range of broadband providers, full fibre provides better performance, impressive speeds and fewer drop-outs as it's connected directly from the exchange to a home or business.

Fibre optic cables are really powerful and tough, providing a future-proof network that’s ready for anything thrown at them. This includes homeworking, running a business, video streaming, tablets, laptops, VR headsets, or even smart technology like home heating and lighting controls.

Building the new network in the three Cambridgeshire locations has been a complex and time-consuming task. Engineers are using existing infrastructure – like telephone poles - wherever possible to minimise disruption.

More than 3,200 Openreach people live and work in the East of England.

Openreach