GTC and Sky Sign 300Mbps FTTH Broadband and TV Deal for New UK Builds

Utility infrastructure provider GTC has signed a new deal with Sky (Sky Broadband) that will make available a bundle of premium TV services, fixed-line home phone and fibre optic broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps (Megabits per second) to future new build homes across the United Kingdom.

GTC is a fully Lloyds accredited multi-utility provider, which typically works alongside house builders to roll-out gas, electric, water and also Internet connectivity into various new builds across the country.

The firm’s website reveals that their most recent deployment, which was agreed during February 2014, involves 1,134 plots on a contract in Upper Heyford with Bovis Homes and The Dorchester Group, where the developer has installed a combined utility solution.

The highlight of this build in Upper Heyford was a Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network that can deliver broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps (i.e. very similar to BT’s FTTP service). A bit more digging also reveals that their platform can technically already deliver speeds of up to 1000Mbps (here).

Paul Summers, Regional Sales Manager at GTC, says:

“Unlike fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), fibre to the home does not suffer from declining speeds with distance from the exchange. Laying fibre optic cable right to each home ensures homeowners will be able to enjoy the best of today’s fibre offerings and know that the network is future proofed to support further advances in technology. The fibre connection will be fully installed and ready for use when the homeowner moves in.”

GTC are also known to be conducting various other developments but one product they haven’t yet been able to bundle in is a proper TV service, until now. Under a new deal Sky (BSkyB) will offer a full range of their premium TV services, including Sky+ HD, to those homes who take GTC’s fibre optic broadband connectivity.

Apparently this solution avoids the need for individual Satellite dishes, which is what Sky normally uses, and delivers TV + all other services via fibre cables directly into homes, utilising a Fibre Integrated Reception System (FIRS) that comprises a central satellite receiver and aerial array, to serve the whole new-build site.

Suffice to say that it’s very encouraging to see more new build home developers adopting FTTP/H style services instead of slower hybrid fibre solutions like FTTC, or even older pure copper lines through ADSL2+. It’s usually more cost effective to build fibre optic networks from a blank slate than to come back later and dig up roads, pathways etc. More of this please.