Grain expands 2Gbps UK full fibre broadband network in Birmingham
Carlisle-based alternative broadband provider Grain (Grain Connect) appears to be in the process of expanding their 2Gbps speed point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network in the West Midland’s city of Birmingham, which already covers more than 900 postcodes in the area and is now set to reach many more.
At present Birmingham, which is home to a population of around 1.2 million, already has wide access to several gigabit-capable broadband networks via Openreach, Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre), Netomnia and Hyperoptic. On top of that there are a mix of modest to smaller patches of coverage from OFNL (Fibrenest), CityFibre, Glide, Elevate (Telcom) and a few more. In addition, new entrant DIGI (WhyFibre) also seem to be building FTTP in a few small patches.
By comparison, Grain deployed their own FTTP broadband network across three large areas of the city a few years ago, including around Alum Rock, Aston, Bearwood, Birchfield, Lozells, Sparkbrook and Witton. The provider has now begun a new phase of network expansion, which includes building outwards from their existing patches and also creating some new areas (e.g. all around the Balsall Heath and Springfield areas).
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As usual the provider hasn’t said precisely how many premises they intend to cover, how much is being invested or how long this roll-out phase will last. But prices for the service, once live, tend to start at £19.99 per month for speeds of 250Mbps (symmetric) on a 24-month term (£9.99 for the first month of service), which rises to £31.99 for their top 2Gbps tier (£15.99 for the first 9 months of service).
The provider’s packages typically include free installation, unlimited usage, a wireless router (Static IPs and Wi-Fi extenders are also available at extra cost) and pledges no mid-contract price hikes (first term discounts not withstanding). Grain currently aspires to cover 600,000 premises with their full fibre network and they also hold a “longer-term strategy” to exceed 1 million premises passed.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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One to watch without the extreme costs of PIA weighing them down
I assume they get to choose whether to use PIA or if it’s cheaper dig their own conduit channels? Are there areas where through planning consent etc. a company is forced to use another’s infrastructure?
Overbuilding Openreach and Virgin Media and Cityfibre in Weston-super-Mare.