Gigaclear’s Rural FTTP Networks Now Reach 10,000 Properties
Gigaclear says rural fibre is helping rural firms build their business while enjoying the country lifestyle
Rural broadband provider Gigaclear has now connected 10,000 properties to its fibre to the premise (FTTP) networks, with forty percent of premises passed signing up for its superfast services.
The company operates or is building more than 50 separate FTTP networks across the UK in places like the Cotswolds and Epping Forest, and recently raised £30 million to continue its expansion.
It claims FTTP allows people in the countryside to enjoy broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps that are in excess of what most urban web users are accustomed to. This, it says, provides a range of social and economic benefits without the need to give up the rural lifestyle.
Rural broadband
“We have made fantastic progress this year already delivering ultrafast broadband to more than twice the number of properties than we did last year,” said Gigaclear CEO Matthew Hare.
“The additional networks currently in construction, plus our significant pipeline of new networks, clearly demonstrates the huge level of demand in rural areas for the unique service Gigaclear provides. The FTTP technology we deploy is more scalable than any other broadband infrastructure, future proofing these areas of the UK.”
Most of the UK’s fibre infrastructure is based on Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology, which uses copper for the final few metres of the connection. A number of operators, including CityFibre and Hyperoptic, offer FTTP connections, however these are mostly restricted to urban areas.
Virgin Media plans to expand its cable network to four million more properties as part of a £3 billion investment. However it is expected that the majority of locations earmarked for the rollout will either be in cities or places already served by BT.
The UK government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme aims to connect 95 percent of the UK population to superfast broadband by 2017, and has so far connected more than three million properties.
However BT is looking to boost speeds on its network using G.Fast technology cabaple of delivering 500Mbps and is also looking at rolling out FTTP in some areas.
