Openreach Plans Wider UK Rollout of Next-Generation Full Fibre

Openreach is planning to expand the rollout of XGS-PON technology across its Full Fibre network, enabling faster broadband speeds and greater network capacity for homes and businesses across the UK.

The technology can support speeds of up to 10Gbps, with Openreach potentially offering download speeds of up to 8.5Gbps. This is significantly higher than the company's current top Full Fibre download speed of 1.8Gbps.

Following an XGS-PON pilot covering around 40,000 premises in Guildford and surrounding areas, Openreach plans to make the upgraded service available to more than one million premises over the next 12 months.

Over the next five years, Openreach aims to extend the technology to around one-third of its Full Fibre network, through a combination of network upgrades, new construction and equipment modernisation.

Openreach's Full Fibre network currently reaches more than 23.4 million premises, with more than 9.4 million customers having upgraded. The company says the additional capacity will help support growing demand for data-intensive services including AI, smart homes, future mobile networks and cloud-based business and public services.

The planned expansion represents another step in the UK's transition towards higher-capacity fibre infrastructure, with faster and more future-ready networks becoming increasingly important as demand for connectivity continues to grow.