RunFibre to Complement Own FTTP Build with Openreach Products

Bristol-based UK ISP RunFibre, which are currently busy building their own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of South Gloucestershire in England, has decided to complement that effort by signing a new partner plus agreement with BTWholesale.

At present RunFibre is busy deploying across a number of villages, such as Hawkesbury Upton, Inglestone Common and surrounding properties. But the new deal with BTWholesale will enable them to offer both a VoIP based phone service (i.e. necessary to help prepare for the national analogue phone [PSTN] switch off in December 2025) and to introduce other products based off Openreach’s national network.

The announcement doesn’t specifically mention what Openreach based broadband products will be introduced via the BTWholesale agreement, but we’ve been informed that they’ll offer access to the national FTTP broadband network, which currently covers 6 million UK premises.

David Swanston, CEO Runfibre, said:

“It became clear from day 1 of our full fibre roll out that our customers were very attached to their phone service, but once we spoke of a potential VOIP service and the forthcoming PSTN switch off, it became a must have. At Runfibre we are completely customer focused and we’re always looking for ways to improve this.

BT Wholesale’s partner programme, Partner Plus, will make it simpler for us to do business with BT Wholesale, and give us the support we need to upskill our teams to serve our customers better. The investment in online tools and training will mean that our teams will gain new skills and we hope beacons of best practice in the communications market.

We want to continue to support our customers and deliver the best services to them and joining Partner Plus will help us to do so.”

The new packages and VoIP will, we’re told, go live from 1st December 2021.