OPENREACH has announced today that it is upgrading a further 18 cities, towns and villages in Somerset as part of its commercial investment in digital infrastructure across the UK.

People living in Brent Knoll, Milverton, Wells and 15 additional locations are next in line for the full fibre roll-out.

They join the more than 140,000 homes and businesses across the county which already have access to the UK’s most reliable broadband technology, thanks to Openreach’s work. Across the UK, the company has published updated plans to build full fibre broadband to a record 517 additional locations – covering a further 2.71 million homes and businesses.

Martin Williams, Openreach’s regional director for the South West, said: “This is a huge infrastructure success story across the region. No company is building faster or further in Europe, that we’re aware of. We plan to build even further across the region, to more cities and towns, and our most rural communities.

“And our engineers, of which 3,100 live in the region, are doing this at a rapid pace - despite this being hugely complex.

“Our fibre checker has the latest information about our work in your area, but only 38% of premises across Somerset which can order a new ultrafast service have done so, as upgrades aren’t automatic.

The work is all part of Openreach’s £15 billion project to upgrade the UK’s broadband infrastructure - making gigabit-capable technology available to 25 million homes and businesses by the end of 2026, including 6.2 million in harder to reach more remote and rural areas.