ISP Trooli Builds Full Fibre Coverage to 100,000 UK Premises

Broadband ISP Trooli has today announced the completion of a significant milestone after their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network grew to cover a total of 100,000 premises – available across parts of Kent, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and East Sussex in England. Plus, they’re expanding into Suffolk.

At the last update in March 2021, it was revealed that the provider had grown their network to cover 70,000 premises (up from 50,000 in Nov 2020), which means that they’ve managed to add another 30,000 premises in the space of just 4 months. The latest work included extensions in parts of Berkshire, East Sussex and Kent, with orders now being taken in places like Ascot, Heathfield and Hythe (Gigaclear and Zzoomm are also present in Ascot).

The operator is now working to pass another 30,000 premises in the next quarter too, which will also see their network grow into parts of East Anglia (specifically they mean Suffolk). The current goal is to reach 170,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2021, rising to 400,000 by December 2022 and then hitting 1 million in 2024.

Trooli now employs more than 150 staff, which is up by more than 30% in the past three months alone, and they seem to be delivering at an impressive pace.

Andy Conibere, Chief Executive Officer of Trooli, said:

“I am delighted that we continue the trend of exceeding our homes passed target. And we do this while consolidating our position as the leading independent provider of full fibre in rural Kent and growing our presence across the South.

These new extensions make us available to homes and businesses around Wraysbury and Ascot in Berkshire, Lewes and Heathfield in East Sussex, and includes over 14,500 premises around Hythe, Kemsing and Whitstable in Kent. We are committed to maintaining our build momentum in these areas and are also excited to be launching in Suffolk.

Demand for our 300Mbps, 500Mbps and 900Mbps packages has been extremely strong over the course of the last year and we expect this to continue as word spreads about how liberating it can be to have robust, ultrafast access to the internet.”

The provider’s broadband packages typically cost from £50 inc. VAT per month for an unlimited 300Mbps (100Mbps upload) service (currently discounted to £35) with free standard installation, and this rises to £80 for 900Mbps+ (300Mbps upload). The gigabit package may be more expensive than some rival gigabit plans, but this largely reflects the higher build costs of tackling rural / semi-rural towns and villages.

At present all of this is being supported by funding worth €30m from the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (here) and, more recently, £5m via a senior facility agreement with NatWest Bank (here). More funding seems certain to follow as they expand.