diff --git a/lib/bb/fetch/__init__.py b/lib/bb/fetch/__init__.py
index 55ab710f3..0eb660685 100644
--- a/lib/bb/fetch/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/bb/fetch/__init__.py
@@ -2090,6 +2090,8 @@ class FetchConnectionCache(object):
     """
     def __init__(self):
         self.cache = {}
+        # urllib openers built by the wget fetcher, see Wget.checkstatus()
+        self.opener_cache = {}
 
     def get_connection_name(self, host, port, connection_id=None):
         if connection_id is None:
diff --git a/lib/bb/fetch/wget.py b/lib/bb/fetch/wget.py
index fe2de25d3..9cb4a4f32 100644
--- a/lib/bb/fetch/wget.py
+++ b/lib/bb/fetch/wget.py
@@ -435,13 +435,21 @@ class Wget(FetchMethod):
         # to scope the changes to the build_opener request, which is when the
         # environment lookups happen.
         with bb.utils.environment(**newenv):
-            context = self.ssl_context(d)
-            handlers = [FixedHTTPRedirectHandler,
-                        HTTPMethodFallback,
-                        urllib.request.ProxyHandler(),
-                        CacheHTTPHandler(),
-                        CacheHTTPSHandler(context=context)]
-            opener = urllib.request.build_opener(*handlers)
+            opener = None
+            if connection_cache is not None:
+                opener_key = (check_certs, tuple(sorted(newenv.items())))
+                opener = connection_cache.opener_cache.get(opener_key)
+
+            if opener is None:
+                context = self.ssl_context(d)
+                handlers = [FixedHTTPRedirectHandler,
+                            HTTPMethodFallback,
+                            urllib.request.ProxyHandler(),
+                            CacheHTTPHandler(),
+                            CacheHTTPSHandler(context=context)]
+                opener = urllib.request.build_opener(*handlers)
+                if connection_cache is not None:
+                    connection_cache.opener_cache[opener_key] = opener
 
             try:
                 parts = urllib.parse.urlparse(ud.url.split(";")[0])