Openreach Taps Google Cloud AI to Accelerate High-Speed Internet Access and Cut Carbon

LONDON and SUNNYVALE, Calif. Openreach announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to apply artificial intelligence and data science technologies to its sustainability and connectivity efforts. The company operates the UK's largest broadband network and maintains the country's second-largest commercial fleet of 24,000 vans that cover nearly 200 million miles a year. It has migrated fleet telematics data to Google Cloud and is using Vertex AI and BigQuery to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, which is expected to remove about 10,000 tonnes of CO2e annually, while cutting idling and excess travel. Openreach has built a digital replica of UK transportation corridors with Vertex AI. The platform integrates data on 35 million homes and businesses with road, rail and waterway networks to help identify where full fibre broadband can be extended sooner. The company is also using Gemini Enterprise to convert complex legacy queries into production-ready BigQuery code. This has reduced time-to-insight by upwards of 50 percent for data engineers. James Tappenden, managing director of fibre first and shared services at Openreach, said the technologies are delivering measurable benefits in faster gigabit broadband connections and lower vehicle emissions. Maureen Costello, vice president of UKI and SSA at Google Cloud, said Openreach is using the tools to make real-world changes that benefit the public and environment.