The Leader of Barnet Council, Cllr Barry Rawlings, with the Openreach staff helping to install faster and more reliable broadband throughout the borough.
Faster and more reliable broadband is being installed throughout Barnet that will make the borough’s network among the speediest of any in Europe.
Around 8,000 households managed by Barnet Council’s social housing provider Barnet Homes will be included in the installation, which will also cover many other households in the borough.
The roll-out is part of Openreach’s £15billion commercial investment in upgrading the UK’s telecommunications network.
Cllr Barry Rawlings, Leader of Barnet Council, said: “We are committed to improving digital access for our residents. Our partnership with Openreach is enabling us to connect our social housing to full fibre and ultrafast internet speeds. This upgrade will allow our residents to use the latest technology to meet their work, study and leisure needs, as well as accessing many essential online services.”
Openreach engineers are installing the once-in-a-generation, Full Fibre broadband upgrade in partnership with Barnet Homes and Barnet Council.
The work will allow thousands of local people and businesses connect multiple devices at gigabit-capable speeds and help businesses to trade online and compete for decades to come.
Elaine Hope, Openreach’s Partnership Director for London, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Barnet Council on this significant broadband upgrade.
“Working together is a crucial step in making sure that residents across the borough have access to some of the best broadband available anywhere in the UK. The support from the council has been instrumental in making this happen.
“This is a major infrastructure upgrade, so you will see more of our engineers, vans and equipment out and about. Wherever possible, we’ll use our existing network of ducts and poles to avoid roadworks, new street furniture and disturbance. But there may be places where we need to install new poles or underground ducts because it’s the only way to make sure as many premises as possible are included in the upgrade.
“Switching to Full Fibre is easy and may even be cheaper than your existing broadband package but it’s important to remember that upgrades don’t happen automatically. People need to contact, and place orders through, their broadband service provider to take advantage.”
Barnet residents can visit openreach.co.uk/ultrafastfullfibre to register for updates and, as the build progresses, check their addresses to see when services are available from their chosen provider.
ENDS
Openreach’s new ultrafast Full Fibre network in London now reaches 1.6million homes and businesses with more than £500million having already been invested and build continuing across the capital.
Build information included in this news release reflects plans at the time of publication. Building a new broadband network across the UK is a huge, complex national engineering programme, so please be aware some changes may occur where when unforeseen obstacles are encountered.