THOUSANDS of homes across south Essex will be given access to faster broadband speeds when a network provider spends millions of pounds on improvements.

Openreach is set to invest £144m across the East of England to offer households the latest Ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband.

Thousands of homes in south Essex are set to benefit from the scheme, which will see improvements made between now and 2026.

That includes households in:

  • Southend
  • Leigh
  • Thorpe Bay
  • Shoebury
  • Eastwood
  • Laindon
  • Stanford-le-Hope

The news comes a month after Openreach announced plans to improve internet speeds in 380,000 rural homes across the East of England.

The network operator says 360,000 homes and businesses already have access to the fastest internet speeds in the region.

John Henry Group and Morrison Telecom Services have bene chosen to support Openreach with the upgrades.

Kieran Wines, Openreach’s Regional Director for the East of England, 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 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.”

Openreach says its 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.

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.