Thirsk and Malton MP gets to grips with Openreach broadband build in Pickering

He was given a tour of the work, which has already reached thousands of homes and businesses in the local area, as well as tens of thousands more in other locations across North Yorkshire.

Engineers have been working to build the new network in the Pickering area for several months, with more than half of people living and working there now able to connect to the new network should they choose to place an order with their service provider.

Openreach is also building or planning to build the new network in fifteen other nearby communities including Easingwold, Helmsley, Kirbymoorside, Linton on Ouse, Malton, Helmsley, Scarborough, Sherburn, Thirsk and Tollerton.

Meeting with the MP, the Openreach team were able to explain how the build in market towns is happening alongside more rural work, highlighting several recent announcements across North Yorkshire covering tens of thousands of premises that are next in line to get full fibre broadband.

Mr Hollinrake visited the local telephone exchange where the Openreach network starts.

He was able to find out more about how full fibre is future-proofing connections for years to come, and even got to try his hand at joining two bits of fibre cable together – a process called splicing.

Mr Hollinrake said: “Connectivity has been a longstanding issue across North Yorkshire and, throughout my time in Parliament, getting our local area better connected is something I have campaigned for, attended debates on and met with ministerial colleagues about.

“It is always great to see the progress being made on this, and it was good to visit Openreach engineers in Pickering to learn how they are bringing better and faster connectivity to the local area through full fibre broadband.”

The visit was hosted by Danny Finn, Senior Fibre Build Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber, who said: “We welcomed the opportunity to give Kevin Hollinrake MP a step-by-step demonstration of our technology.

"Our engineers work hard every day to keep communities across North Yorkshire and the wider region connected, and it was great to be able to share the challenges and realities of delivering this technology.”