DAMAGE to broadband cabinets, telephone poles and overhead wires across Wales can now be reported to Openreach using precise locations from what3words.

What3words grids the Earth into three metre squares, with each square given unique words to make it easier to pinpoint an exact location. The app is being used by emergency and rescue services and it is now hoped to help keep homes and businesses connected.

Reporting damage to Openreach’s nationwide phone and broadband network can sometimes prove difficult, particularly if the damage is in a rural or remote location or situated between villages or local landmarks.

The company's 2,500 engineers in Wales are now using what3words so that members of the public can report vandalism, damaged equipment or safety concerns.

“This should make a huge difference to how safety issues and damage to our network are reported to us and how easy they are to find quickly," said Huw Jones, Openreach’s director of operations in Wales. "We have the largest phone and broadband network in the UK, used by hundreds of different service providers, covering everything from city centres to the most rural and remote locations.

"Many of our poles and overhead wires are in areas with no easily identifiable features nearby, so it can be tricky for people to report exactly which pole has been knocked over or which overhead wire is damaged."

To use what3words, visit the app or website and make a note of the three words that pinpoint your GPS location. The words are then given to Openreach who will be able to attend the location.

Across the UK, Openreach looks after 192 million kilometres of network cable, 110,000 green cabinets, and 4.9 million telephone poles and junction boxes.

In a typical year, more than 9.9 million engineering jobs are carried out by the company’s 25,000 engineers, many of them in extremely remote and rural locations.