Manchester-based British Cables Company (BCC) has been successful in bidding for a multi-million pound contract to supply Openreach, the largest digital network business, with a variety of fibre optic cables.
The contract, which commenced in April 2021, will initially run for three years and will see BCC supply and distribute thousands of kilometres of cable.
The announcement comes as Openreach revealed that it has built Full Fibre to five million homes as well new plans to build the ultrafast and ultra-reliable network to 551 more urban towns and cities – covering approximately five million more homes
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. It 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.
Commenting on the contract, BCC Sales Director, Nick Bowman says: “The contract comes at a time when the Openreach network is also significantly expanding to fulfil consumer demand for Full Fibre. For this project we teamed up with ZTT, a highly respected fibre cable manufacturer, and our combined strengths meant we could deliver an exceptional tender proposal.
“BCC has developed a very capable logistics solution, an essential requirement for Openreach. Our Manchester headquarters is an ideal location with great transport links. Additionally, our 28-acre site means we have tremendous capacity for bulk storage. It means we can provide a complete fulfilment service, from storage to cable cutting and shipping. A total of nine international suppliers have been awarded various elements of the total contract and I am pleased that BCC will provide logistics services to the majority.”
Kevin Murphy, MD for Fibre and Network Delivery at Openreach, said: “Building a new broadband network across the UK is a hugely complex, nationwide engineering project – second only to HS2 in terms of investment. It will help level-up the UK because the impact of Full Fibre broadband stretches from increased economic prosperity and international competitiveness, to higher employment and environmental benefits.”
