880 New Tornagrain Homes in Scotland Get GTC’s 300Mbps FTTH Broadband

Utility infrastructure builder GTC (Brookfield Utilities UK / IFNL) has announced that the initial phase of 880 new homes being constructed in Tornagrain, which is the Highlands newest town near Inverness (Scotland), will benefit from their 300Mbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) broadband network.

Once complete the new town of Tornagrain, which is located just off the A96 (halfway between Nairn and Inverness) and is being built by Zero C and A&J Stephen for Tornagrain Ltd (part of Moray Estates), should create 5,000 homes as well as various local parks, schools, shops and offices. Apparently the first homes have already started to go live on GTC’s Ultrastream300 FTTH network.

Customers can get access to the ultrafast network by subscribing via any one of five different ISPs (Seethelight, VFast, Direct Save Telecom, Pure Broadband and Love Your Broadband), which all have fairly similar packages. Prices tend to start at around £25 inc. VAT per month for an unlimited 30Mbps (5Mbps upload) service and rise to around £60+ if you want the full 300Mbps (30Mbps upload).

A £70 one-off activation fee for new connections may also apply.

Alastair Struthers, Sales Manager of Zero C, said:

“Working with GTC has been a great experience. Their team have been exceptionally helpful in the delivery of the FTTH packages into our homes. The high speeds are unparalleled in the area and so have proved enticing to many of our customers, adding real value to their homes.

The new residents have been thrilled with the consistent high speeds they are receiving and ease of getting up and running as soon as they move into their home.”

Lesley Campbell, GTC’s Commercial Director for Scotland, said:

“We are delighted that the first homes on our FTTH network at Tornagrain in Scotland have gone live. The team in our Scottish office has been working closely with Zero C and A&J Stephen, as we do with all our housebuilder customers, and it is very satisfying to see the new community beginning to emerge.”

On top of that GTC’s existing agreement with Sky means that the new homes can also benefit from premium TV services, which are delivered via a Fibre Integrated Reception System (FIRS). The FIRS system delivers TV services via GTC’s fibre optic cables and thus only needs to utilise a single central satellite receiver and aerial array to cover a whole site, which is better than putting a dish on every roof. On the other hand any problem with the centralised distribution can affect a wide area.