Buckley leads in ultrafast broadband access as Openreach hits Welsh target

The milestone is part of a substantial investment by Wales’ largest network provider to create a new, full fibre digital network across the country.

Interestingly, while urban areas in south Wales are often perceived to have superior broadband coverage, it’s towns and villages in north Wales that dominate Openreach’s list of hotspots.

Buckley has emerged as the leader, with over 90% of properties now able to access ultrafast broadband.

This is closely followed by Old Colwyn in Conwy and Llangennech near Llanelli, representing south Wales.

Openreach’s investment of over £240 million in Wales’ new network has already seen 277,000 households and businesses upgrade to faster, ultra-reliable services. This progress is a testament to the hard work of engineers and build partners.

Kim Mears, Chair of the Openreach Wales Board, said: “This is tremendous news for Wales. Having fast reliable connectivity that will be fit for the future is a huge game-changer in terms of how families live their lives, how our children learn, and how our businesses prosper. As one of the largest employers in Wales, our engineers are building our full fibre network in communities where we ourselves live and work. So, to think that half of Wales can now access ultrafast broadband thanks to Openreach’s full fibre network naturally gives us all a feeling of great pride. It’s brilliant to reach 50% coverage across Wales, and a huge thank you must go to our hardworking engineers and build partners who’ve helped make it happen. But we’re not stopping there…”

The work doesn’t stop here. Efforts are ongoing in various locations, including St Asaph, Ebbw Vale, Tenby, Cardiff, Swansea, and Newport.

The project is part of a larger national engineering program aiming to connect 25 million premises to full fibre broadband by the end of 2026.

It was recently announced that 44,000 homes and businesses across some of the harder to reach areas of Wales are benefiting from improved connectivity thanks to a successful partnership between Openreach and the Welsh Government.

The Secretary of State for Wales, David TC Davies, said: “This is an important milestone in the drive to ensure more homes and businesses across Wales benefit from full fibre broadband, improving vital connectivity. Alongside Openreach’s commercial build, we’re delighted to be working with them to bring their future-proofed digital infrastructure to some of the harder to reach parts of Wales through our popular Gigabit Voucher scheme.”

Openreach’s Top 20 ultrafast broadband hotspots in Wales: