UK ISP Zen Internet Hints at Cheaper and Unlimited Fibre Optic Broadband

Rochdale-based ISP Zen Internet has today hinted that the on-going investment of £3.5 million into their core infrastructure, which will build a new network of local telephone exchange PoPs (Points of Presence), will also result in “lower priced Fibre Optic Broadband services” and unlimited usage options.

Zen first announced the major investment during March 2013 (full details) and it’s now confirmed that the new network should enable them to provide cheaper fibre optic based broadband products to “at least 6 million UK premises“. By comparison BT’s superfast broadband FTTC / P technologies currently pass 15 million premises (roughly 50% of the UK).

The ISP said that it plans to use BTOpenreach’s local loop access to deliver lower cost “Fibre Optic Broadband” services directly from Zen owned and managed equipment located in local telephone exchanges. “Zen will use this infrastructure to deliver more competitively priced products, with unlimited usage on selected services,” said a spokesperson for the ISP.

Richard Tang, Zen’s Managing Director, said:

“Our considerable investment in building a new network of PoPs reflects our long-term plan to deliver services directly to our customers. Expanding our own network in this way allows us to provide more affordable services in what is a highly competitive and price-sensitive market, and we can guarantee an exceptional level of quality.

Fibre is only going to grow in scale and importance over the coming years so this initiative represents a huge opportunity. This major investment reflects our ambition to provide our customers with award-winning technical support and customer service together with lower priced Fibre Optic Broadband services.

Fibre is the future and feedback from our customers confirms that fibre optic broadband performance transforms their Internet experience, not just by making their service faster, but by enabling them to try new applications that might previously have been out of reach. We believe that we have the strongest portfolio of Fibre Optic Broadband services in the UK, having worked with BT since the initial fibre optic broadband trials.”

Under the current plan Zen’s new Ethernet portfolio will include delivery over Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) using multiple copper pairs and NGA Ethernet using more familiar up to 80Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) and 330Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology.

The news of cheaper services will no doubt be welcome, although Zen is remaining tight-lipped about what kind of packages will actually be on offer. It will also be interesting to see whether or not their new pricing structure will be available to everybody (shared model) or result in a split with higher prices for some and lower prices for those covered by their new network.