FULL fibre is heading to thousands of homes in Halesowen and Stourbridge as part of a broadband upgrade by Openreach.

Stourbridge, Lye, Cradley Heath, Halesowen and Blackheath are among 36 towns and villages next in line for full fibre - the UK’s most reliable broadband technology.

Currently more than 1.25 million homes and businesses across the region have access to full fibre but Openreach has plans to bring full fibre broadband to 517 more locations across the UK – covering a further 2.7 million homes and businesses.

Kasam Hussain, regional director for the Midlands, said: “This is a huge infrastructure success story across the Midlands. No company is building faster or further in Europe, that we’re aware of.

“We won’t be stopping either. We plan to build even further across the region, to more cities and towns, and our most rural communities.

“And our engineers, of which more than 3,500 live in the region, are doing this at a rapid pace - despite this being a hugely complex engineering project.”

He said Openreach’s fibre checker openreach.com/fibre-checker has the latest information about work and services in the area and he added: “It’s also worth noting that upgrades aren’t automatic. Once full fibre is available where you live, you’ll need to place an order to get connected and we’ll do the rest!

“Openreach’s network offers the widest choice of providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen – which means people have lots of choice and can get a great deal.”

The work is 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 remote and rural areas.

More than 4.7 million homes and businesses across the UK have already upgraded to full fibre.