Barratt Developments, Britain’s biggest housebuilder, is partnering with Openreach, Virgin Media and Hyperoptic to ensure that ultrafast, ultra-reliable gigabit capable broadband is installed as standard across its new developments throughout the UK.
Barratt is leading the market by announcing this industry-first unified communications provider strategy which was widely regarded as being unachievable to deliver.
Matt Warman, Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said: “It is our national mission to level up the country with better broadband and a major part of this is ensuring new homes across the UK come with fast and reliable connectivity built in.
“Barratt’s commitment to a range of internet packages gives homeowners greater choice so they can shop around for the best deal and take advantage of everything new technology has to offer.”
This means that all new sites that Barratt builds every year will have access to a future-proof broadband service from multiple networks, from the moment new homeowners move in, giving its customers 18 leading ISPs to choose from.
There are a small number of sites where it may take longer for this service to be available
ISPs available to its customers will include: BT, Virgin Media, Hyperoptic, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, EE, Zen, Andrews and Arnold, Aquiss, Cerberus, Fibre Net, Giganet, Orbital Net, Pine Media, Spectrum, Structured, Syscomm and Uno.
The new unified service will ensure its customers can choose between a large selection of different speeds, costs and contractual options to suit their circumstances, from monthly pay-as-you-go contracts to 24 month contracts.
Steven Boyes, Chief Operating Officer at Barratt Developments, said: “Every customer will now have the greatest choice of broadband speed, reliability, costs and packages at a time when data-hungry activities such as video streaming, home working and learning during the Covid-19 lockdown have never been needed more.
“Delivering full fibre services on a site by site basis can cause problems for customers, so by coming together to build a unified approach with Barratt it will deliver a much better service, benefitting everyone. All three providers recognise this and have worked really hard to build the new service with us.”
The agreement comes at a time when people have never been so dependent on ultrafast and reliable broadband with so many people now relying on their connectivity to work, learn and stay entertained at home. The government is aiming for 85% of homes to have access to a gigabit broadband connection by 2025.
With gigabit capable connections, residents’ services are faster and more reliable, giving them the best internet experience possible, whether they are using their connection for home working, virtual learning or streaming entertainment.
Kim Mears OBE, MD Strategic Infrastructure Development at Openreach, said: “Like Openreach, Barratt understands the huge benefits of full fibre to both buyers and builders alike and the importance of ensuring everybody moving into a new build property can enjoy the advantages of this future proof technology.
“As the digital revolution continues at an ever increasing pace, and our demand for data grows, we need to make sure this country stays ahead of the curve by building fast, reliable networks that cater for all the activities we’ll want to do online in the decades ahead. This has never been more important as we look to help the UK’s economy bounce back more quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic. And there’s strong evidence that points to full fibre broadband being able to turbo-charge that process. I hope other housebuilders will now follow Barratt’s lead in making full fibre mandatory across their own developments.”
Rob Evans, MD of Network Expansion at Virgin Media, added: “This innovative and exciting partnership between Virgin Media and Barratt Homes will mean that new homeowners will have access to the UK’s fastest widely available broadband from day one of moving into their new home.
“Our connectivity will provide residents with the ultrafast and reliable broadband services which have never been so important to the way we live our daily lives. It is essential that all new homes have access to the fastest speeds available and we will continue to work with developers across the UK to ensure more homes are connected to such vital services.”
Liam McAvoy, Senior Director of Business Development, Hyperoptic, concluded: “This is a great example of developer best practice. A full fibre connection digitally future-proofs the property. The experience is seamless, which means you don’t even need to think about your connectivity, whether you are homeworking, virtual learning or streaming. It just sits as the heart of the connected home.
“As a growing alternative network provider, we are pleased to be part of this ‘trio’ of infrastructure options offered by Barratt. We are committed to differentiating ourselves by ensuring our router equipment is pre-installed and ready for when the home-mover walks through the door – so they can start living their normal connected life straight away. We are also proud to underpin our industry-leading customer support, which is demonstrated by our 5* Trustpilot rating and leading NPS score.”
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