Aylesbury Vale Broadband Project Starts Rollout of Fibre Optic Network

Residents in the rural Buckinghamshire (England) villages of North Marston and Granborough could soon be connecting to ultrafast broadband speeds after the £1.5m Aylesbury Vale Broadband project finally began digging its new fibre optic cable into the ground, which should take around 4 weeks to complete.

The project, which is supported by the Aylesbury Vale District Council via public investment from the New Homes Bonus fund, was first highlighted earlier this year (here) and focuses upon areas that are expected to miss out under the local Broadband Delivery UK and BT fuelled Connected Counties programme.

In recent weeks the effort has really picked up pace with the arrival of all the necessary infrastructure, such as cabinets and 6km worth of fibre optic cable on two massive drums. Happily it looks like Residents of North Marston will be among the first to benefit.

North Marston is home to around 800 people, while Granborough’s population sits at about 600 and it’s hoped that other local communities may follow in the future. The new network itself could start to go live as soon as mid-September 2015, although this depends upon progress and that can be affected by all sorts of factors (e.g. stormy weather).

AVB Status Update (Today):

WOW! Another exciting day for us (despite the rain) and this is a massive milestone. I know some of you have already spotted us, but I can confirm after 12 months of planning the backhaul has reached the village and we’re now digging the fibre around North Marston. Expect to see a lot more of us over the coming weeks.

Precise details about the service and packages have yet to be revealed, although we do have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The fibre optic network itself will be capable of Gigabit speeds, although those who receive their Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) service may initially be offered packages with speeds of up to 300Mbps.

The long term goal is to ensure that everybody can get this pure fibre optic service, although it’s stated that some areas may have to put up with a slower Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) style solution before being upgraded to full FTTH at a later date. This hybrid service is expected to deliver more than the 30Mbps minimum required by the EU for 2020.

In terms of price, the entry-level packages should start at £25 per month and there will also be a £150 installation fee, which includes a wireless router with top spec 802.11ac WiFi. All of this will also be covered by a 12 month contract term, which is fairly standard.

Mind you two local fixed wireless broadband ISPs, Village Networks and Rapid Rural, claim to already have the area covered with superfast speeds and that has raised questions about AVB’s use of public funding. Never the less AVB believes that its network will be much more future proof and capable.