Openreach UK broadband upgrade reaches 20 million homes

In what its CEO describes as a UK infrastructure success story that is a credit to the investment, hard work and ambition of everyone at the BT-owned broadband provision company, Openreach has revealed that its current infrastructure programme has now hit a major milestone, with 20 million homes and businesses now able to access its full-fibre broadband network.

In a geographic and lyrical flourish, Openreach said its network now reaches from “the beautiful, windswept Fair Isle in Scotland’s far north to the far reaches of Devon and Cornwall in England’s South West”, its engineers having laid full-fibre cables in cities, towns and villages throughout the UK.

Ultimately, and assuming that it can take advantage of the right economic and regulatory conditions, Openreach hopes to make its full-fibre network available to as many as 30 million premises in all corners of the UK by the end of the decade. It says full-fibre infrastructure is already becoming the backbone of Britain’s digital economy, supporting everything from smart farming and sustainable transport to remote working and virtual healthcare.

Openreach describes its build-out project as one of the largest and fastest broadband infrastructure programmes in Europe, with engineers now reaching more than a million new homes every three months. It has so far included around 33,000 medical facilities and more than 25,000 colleges, schools and universities, helping to “transform” access to critical services.

Openreach claims to be building its new network to connect customers faster and further than any other provider in the UK, reaching an average of 85,000 new premises every week. In total, more than 3,500 UK towns, cities, boroughs, villages and hamlets have so far been included in the build programme, with others being reached through publicly funded partnerships.

As an indication of the progress of the build-out, on 1 July 2025, Openreach reported that 19 million premises across the UK could then order its gigabit broadband technology and that it was on track to reach five million more homes and businesses with its broadband network during the year to March 2026.

It added that seven million UK premises were already taking services based on its network via a host of popular providers – 37% of the full footprint. Yet Openreach noted that, at present, only around 38% of households that could order full-fibre from Openreach have made the switch.

For Openreach chief executive Clive Selley, reaching 20 million premises represents a UK infrastructure success story, but he stressed that the job in hand was not done yet, especially given that the next premises to connect were some of the very hardest to reach.

“In 2025, being online isn’t a luxury – it’s a lifeline. From booking GP appointments to applying for jobs, accessing education and launching businesses, digital connectivity is the gateway to opportunity. Full-fibre makes that gateway faster and far more reliable, and it will keep up with the demands of our digital world,” he said.

“But upgrades don’t often happen automatically, so people need to contact their broadband provider to make the switch. To finish the job, we need the right support as an industry, including targeted help for some rural areas, faster planning approvals, better access to multi-dwelling buildings, and a regulatory and policy environment that gives investors confidence and allows competition to thrive.”