£72m broadband boost for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire homes and businesses

People living and working in Chesterfield, Dronfield, Ilkeston, Mansfield, Shirebrook and Warsop are included in Openreach’s national upgrade plan, with the majority of premises in each area gaining access to the latest “ultrafast” full fibre broadband.

Work will take place between now and 2026.

The news follows last month’s announcement that 275,000 premises – in 105 mainly rural and harder to serve areas across the East Midlands – were also included in Openreach’s build plan.

Kasam Hussain, Openreach’s regional director for the East Midlands, said: “Nobody in the UK is building full fibre faster, further or at a higher quality than Openreach.

"We’re reaching more communities than ever before and our team of highly-skilled engineers, alongside our build partners, are working hard to deliver some of the fastest and most reliable broadband available anywhere in the world.

“Just last month we announced 105 rural and hard to reach locations across the East Midlands were to benefit, so it’s great that we’re able to reveal another huge broadband boost for the region with these additional locations.

“The latest details and timescales are available on our website as the build planning progresses.”

An OPenreach spokeperson said: “The company’s updated build plan will be fundamental to the UK Government achieving its target of delivering ‘gigabit capable’ broadband to 85 per cent of the UK by 2025 and it follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group – which means Openreach will now build Full Fibre technology to a total of 25 million premises, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country by the end of 2026.

“Openreach is already building Full Fibre faster, at lower cost and higher quality than anyone else in the UK, having made the technology available to more than 5 million homes and business so far.

“Openreach plays an important role across the East Midlands region. More than 1,600 of our people live and work here.

"Recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) highlighted the clear economic benefits of connecting everyone in the East Midlands to full fibre. It estimated this would create a £3.5 billion boost to the local economy.”