Rural UK ISP Alncom to Cover 50,000 Premises with FTTP Broadband

Alnwick-based broadband ISP Alncom has announced that they’ve secured enough funding to be able to expand the coverage of their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 50,000 premises in the North East of England (up from 25,000), with a focus on Northumberland, County Durham and the Scottish Borders.

The provider already has a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network in Northumberland, which connects over 1,000 customers. In addition, they recently started to build their own full fibre network across Alnwick and other communities, which is using kit from ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 (TA5000) fibre access platform.

Back in June 2022 we reported that their rollout of full fibre technology had already passed over 7,000 premises, with 1,000 customers connected. But today’s announcement reveals that they’ve now passed over 10,000 premises “ahead of schedule” and have connected more than 2,500 customers.

Suffice to say that this positive progress has enabled their investors to open the funding taps and double their future coverage target to 50,000 premises by the end of 2025. On top of that, the provider has also announced a new social tariff of £15 per month for a full fibre connection, which offers speeds of up to 35Mbps to those on Universal Credit or Pension Credit (12-month term).

Alncom MD, Stephen Pinchen, said:

“Mostly utilising in-house build teams has been the key to the speed of our roll out. We have also deployed a fast-track apprentice and training scheme that is in full flow, increasing jobs and opportunities in the region. The workforce are feeling valued in a difficult economy and It has been immensely gratifying to deliver personal development to the team, with the plus of such a positive impact on rural communities

Having passed over 10,000 premises ahead of schedule & connecting over 2,500 customers, it was vital to secure additional funding from our shareholders to accelerate the growth and increase the target from 25,000 to 50,000 premises.”

Rory Wilson, CEO of Northumberland Estates, said:

“We are delighted with the continued success of the Northumberland Estate’s investment. In one of the most rural regions in the United Kingdom, it’s essential that the economy is supported with good communications. It has offered life-changing benefits to the farming community, those working from home, families and isolated individuals and businesses.”

Excluding those eligible for their social tariff, residential customers of the service tend to pay from £25 per month for an unlimited 100Mbps package, which rises to £90 for their top 925Mbps tier on an 18 or 24-month contract term. We should point out that Alncom tends to focus on remote rural areas, where there usually aren’t many or any gigabit-capable rivals to worry about, but the cost of build is much higher.