Nick Smith MP recently joined up with some of the Openreach engineers that have been busy building a new Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband network across his Blaenau Gwent constituency.

He was given a tour of the work, which is making faster and more reliable ‘full fibre’ broadband available to homes and businesses in the local area. Around 30% of premises across the Blaenau Gwent constituency can already benefit from Openreach’s investment which when complete will total around £8 million* and bring some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds to the area.

The tour started with a quick visit to the Merthyr telephone exchange. Despite being across the ‘constituency border’ this is where the Openreach network starts for a significant number of properties in Blaenau Gwent.

At the exchange the MP was able to see up close the art of fibre splicing – where two ends of fibre optic glass cable no wider than a human hair are fused together. This delicate piece of engineering plays a vital role in Openreach’s Full Fibre network that’s already connected more than 10m properties across the UK.

After the Merthyr exchange it was a quick drive 16km up the road to Ebbw Vale to see the ‘final stage’ of the Openreach Full Fibre network and to talk to local engineers that are delivering this game changing technology to communities across Blaenau Gwent.

With this investment, residents and businesses in Blaenau Gwent can expect improved connectivity, reduced latency, and the ability to utilize bandwidth-intensive applications and services. Ultrafast broadband can also attract new businesses, promote economic growth, and enhance digital inclusion by providing equal opportunities for education, employment, and innovation.

Nick Smith MP said: “I’m pleased to see the progress being made by Openreach to deliver full fibre across Blaenau Gwent constituency and the rest of Wales. I’m keen for local people to be able to reap the full benefits of fast, robust broadband, which is becoming increasingly important in our daily lives.

“This significant local investment is great news for people living and working in Blaenau Gwent and I’m delighted to see the progress Openreach are making to deliver full fibre across both urban and rural parts of my constituency.

”The area already has a high percentage of superfast broadband coverage, but full fibre is without doubt the future and the fact that Openreach is investing heavily in the area is to be welcomed.

“I look forward to even more progress being made so that all of my constituents can have the best access to digital services for employment, education and entertainment, as soon as possible.”

The visit was hosted by Martin Williams, Partnership Director for Wales, who said: “We welcomed the opportunity to give Nick an overview of our ultrafast network. Our investment in Blaenau Gwent demonstrates Openreach’s commitment to improving digital infrastructure and bridging the digital divide. Our engineers work hard every day to keep communities across Blaenau Gwent and the rest of Wales connected, and it was great to be able to share the challenges and realities of delivering this technology.

“I would urge everyone in the local area to keep an eye on the build locally to see when full fibre is available to them. They can visit the Openreach fibre checker, which is regularly updated with our build progress and when full fibre is available in specific areas.”

Openreach is leading the full fibre charge in Wales to build an ultrafast network that is faster, better and more affordable than ever.

With download speeds of 1 Gbps, it’s up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection. That means faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.