UPD Hyperoptic ISP Delivers 1Gbps Fibre Broadband to 10000 London Homes

Urban focused ISP Hyperoptic has announced that its ultra-fast 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable fibre optic broadband (FTTB) service is now available to more than 10,000 homes in 12 London boroughs (30 property developments) and it plans to go a lot further over the next five years.

The first installation of Hyperoptic’s new service began at the Prices Court (Wandsworth) building in London last year (here). Since then the ISP has been somewhat muted about its long-term plans and part of the reason for that could be as a result of the threat posed by BT’s rival pilot to hook-up 1,000 High Rise Buildings with similar FTTP technology (here), which has targeted the same sort of areas.

So far Hyperoptic claims to have reached over 10,000 homes in Barnet, Croydon, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster. The next goal is to reach 20,000 homes in 100 major property developments by the end of this year and then 500,000 within the next five years.

Boris Ivanovic, Founder and Chairman of Hyperoptic, said:

“There is a clear need for speed in the UK. It’s widely understood that the UK is one of the biggest users of technology, with the Internet contributing more to its economy than any other country in the world, accounting for nearly 8.3% of GDP. Having the infrastructure to support this growth is paramount, although previously the focus has only been on hitting coverage – meaning the UK doesn’t make the top 15 countries for broadband speeds.

The Government recently accepted that speed is a key issue and fibre-to-the-cabinet was a temporary stepping stone to fibre-to-the-home. We are thrilled to have this recognised and already be setting an example to the rest of the industry, and indeed other metropolises who want to enter the digital age. We continue to be inundated with requests for our hyper-fast speeds from across the UK – watch this space for news on our expansion to other cities later this year.”

Unfortunately anybody hoping for a more specific roll out plan will be very disappointed as the ISP has once again opted to keep such details off the public map, although they’re known to have signed several key partnerships with UK property managers and developers like Stonedale (Peveral Group) and the City of Docklands. The latter plans to use Hyperoptic’s service for several London developments in 2013, which include the Pump House, Royal Docks and Canary Gateway.

The good news is that Hyperoptic are now beginning to turn their earlier ambition into a reality, although the ISP still couldn’t tell us how many of the 10,000 homes had actually taken their service.

UPDATE 10:19am

According to the groups PR firm, Hyperoptic claims that it’s seen well above 20% of homes passed adopting its service, which is a good proportion for such a new ISP.