Delivering with Openreach

Openreach won the first two contracts for the Superfast Northamptonshire project; procured through the Government’s Broadband Infrastructure. These primarily involved a fibre-based technology capable of supporting access line speeds of up to 80Mbps known as Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), although some fibre to the premise (FTTP) technology was also delivered.  At the time, FTTP could support ultrafast speeds of up to 330Mbps and is now gigabit capable (1,000Mbps).

Openreach are continuing to play a major part in helping to deliver improved connectivity benefits to many areas in North and West Northamptonshire.

Contract Award and Achievements

The initial contract with Openreach was awarded by Northamptonshire County Council in March 2013. It was due to provide access to superfast broadband to 48,660 premises.  Superfast broadband was defined at the time as access line speeds >24Mbps. The contract was extended twice in 2014 to serve an additional 4,750 premises.

Former Government Minister for Communications, Ed Vaizey visited Towcester in February 2014 to mark the switch on of the first cabinet delivered for Superfast Northamptonshire.  Just 18 months later, he congratulated the project for achieving its 50,000 premises passed milestone.

Stage 1 plans were completed in March 2016 and benefitted more than 53,800 premises; more than expected.

The second contract was awarded to Openreach in November 2014. This has extended the availability of superfast broadband to a further 19,230 premises.

Together these contracts delivered hundreds of miles of fibre broadband network to make superfast broadband available to 73,000 homes and businesses in North and West Northamptonshire.

Image above, shows from the left:  then County Council Leader Jim Harker, Ed Vaizey (then Minister of State at DCMS), then County Councillor Andre Gonzalez de Savage and former BT Managing Director of NGA, Bill Murphy.

Better Broadband Scheme​

Alongside the superfast build for Stage 1 of the project, Openreach also delivered the Government’s Better Broadband Scheme. This was to manage a commitment to see basic broadband services of at least 2Mbps available to all premises.  A Better Broadband subsidy scheme was launched for Northamptonshire in December 2015. It closed in December 2019.  This provided people who were suffering the lowest broadband speeds in the county (below 2Mbps) with the opportunity to take up faster services offered by a range of registered providers.  Solutions were largely reliant on satellite broadband technology.

Further information

For more information on how and where Openreach have delivered for the project please visit the pages listed below:

• Gigabit Coverage Map
• Roll Out Schedule

The first two stages of the Superfast Northamptonshire project involved public funding from Northamptonshire County Council, the Government (Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (BDUK programme), the Department for Business Innovation and Skill (Local Growth Fund via Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership); and the seven local district and borough councils.

The County Council and local councils were replaced by two Unitary authorities (North and West Northamptonshire Councils) in April 2021. The responsible government department changed to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in February 2023.

Openreach is an infrastructure provider and does not provide broadband services in the UK. They open up their network to enable internet service providers (ISPs) to get people connected.

Families and businesses can choose to take up superfast broadband services once available by asking their Internet Service Provider (ISP) about how to upgrade or finding the best deal by comparing ISP offers on-line. More than 650 ISPs operate using Openreach’s fibre-based network across the UK providing great choice for consumers.

Currently (February 2024), there are 25 ISP’s offering services over the Openreach full fibre network. The level of choice is expected to rise in the future as Fibre to the Premise becomes more widespread and demand for much faster services increases. You can find out more about Openreach full fibre ISPs at FTTP providers | Openreach.

Visit the Upgrading your Broadband page for more advice on upgrading your service.

Openreach is undertaking a massive national upgrade plan of its network to full fibre, including an ambition to deliver to 25 million premises across the UK by the end of 2026. The Openreach “Fibre First” announcements involve upgrade plans in at least 56 exchange areas across Northamptonshire. The most recent announcement by Openreach in May 2024 added planned coverage to a further 21,000 homes and businesses in Northamptonshire, involving an investment of £6.3m across 7 exchange areas including Elton, Middleton Cheney, Pattishall, Rockingham, Silverstone, Weston Favell and West Haddon.  This takes the Openreach total Full Fibre investment in Northamptonshire to over £87.3m.  This is good news for the county.  The programme will support progress towards local full fibre coverage targets.

Openreach acknowledge that while the majority of premises in these exchange areas will be served through their Fibre First programme, not all will benefit. This is because it is a commercial roll out – so those more costly remote premises or difficult to reach premises are unlikely to benefit. It is also likely that Openreach will face some constraints beyond their control which will block delivery in some localities e.g. where access to private land is not agreed by the landowner.

Local councils may not be party to information on which premises remain unserved.

Go to Openreach map of Fibre First exchanges to find out more. The list of exchanges announced by Openreach include:

Adderbury, Banbury, Blisworth, Bozeat, Brackley, Braunston, Brigstock, Brixworth, Broughton, Burton Latimer, Byfield, Chapel Brampton, Cogenhoe, Corby, Creaton, Crick, Daventry, Desborough, Dunchurch, Duston, Earls Barton, Elton, Finedon, Great Oakley, Hackleton, Hanslope, Hardingstone, Harrowden, Irthlingborough, Kettering, Kings Sutton, Kingsthorpe, Kislingbury, Long Buckby, Middleton Cheney, Moulton, Northampton, Oundle, Paulerspury, Pattishall, Raunds, Roade, Rockingham, Rugby, Rushden, Silvertone, Stamford, Stony Stratford, Thrapston, Towcester, Wansford, Weedon, Wellingborough, West Haddon, Weston Favell and Yardley Gobion.​

Further information:

• View a short video on YouTube explaining Full Fibre Technology.
• View a map of Openreach’s Fibre First locations and latest availability or local plans.

Openreach operate a Fibre Community Partnership (FCP) scheme.

This is a demand led scheme requiring a resourceful local community lead to bring together a group of like-minded residents and business owners, or whole communities, to secure or expedite a full fibre broadband upgrade for their locality.

These are customised solutions which are partly funded by Openreach and partly funded by private contributions from the community. Once a quote has been accepted and agreed with a community and funding confirmed, Openreach will build. Delivery timescales and premise level coverage would be agreed as part of the FCP arrangement. Openreach may also advise on any government grants which may be available to help pay for the community contribution, including Gigabit Vouchers if eligible.

Before embarking on a FCP initiative, whether you live in North or West Northamptonshire, please contact the Superfast Northamptonshire team to find out if your locality is already in plans to be served.

Further information

• Visit Openreach’s FCP web page to find out more.