Urban-focused ISP Hyperoptic has revealed that its “hyper-sonic” 1000Mbps (Megabits per second) capable home and business Fibre-To-The-Building/Home (FTTB/H) network will soon be expanded to include large buildings and office blocks in the “hyper-cities” of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds (England).
The announcement, which forms part of Hyperoptic’s goal to extend its fibre optic network into a total of 10 cities across the United Kingdom by the end of 2014 (around 80,000 premises), follows confirmation in February 2014 (here) that the ISP would initially grow its network beyond London and into Cardiff (Wales), Bristol and Reading (England).
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At the last count Hyperoptic’s network has reached (premises passed) around 35,000 homes, spanning 150 major property developments in the capital, and they intend to hit a long-term goal of 500,000 by 2018. A large part of this increasingly rapid growth is being funded by an investment of £50 million from Quantum Strategic Partners (here).
Dana Tobak, MD and co-Founder of Hyperoptic, said:
“We are committed to providing UK consumers, left lagging in the slow-lane, with a real broadband alternative that is the best in the market today in both terms of speed and online experience. You get what you pay for. Anytime. All the time. Full stop.”
We are building the consumers-choice broadband company, a trusted utility that our customers can and do depend upon.”
It’s likely that the ISP will continue to focus most of their efforts within a 15km – 20km radius of the city centres and negotiations with a number of big property developments are already thought to be underway, with those that register their interest likely to be given priority (if strong demand can be established).
Meanwhile the press release also takes a poke at the slower hybrid-fibre (FTTC) solutions being offered by rival operators like BT. “Whereas the majority of ‘fibre’ providers claim broadband speeds ‘up to’ 76Mbps, the fibre actually stops at the cabinet, leaving residents to guess what bandwidth they might actually receive and when. The connection into the house is still delivered over outdated telephone copper cables, which is why customers experience undependable performance, peak-time slowdowns and barriers to fully utilising their connections,” said the PR blurb. By comparison Hyperoptic take that fibre optic cable all the way to your building.
Prices for the ISPs service start at just £12.50 inc. VAT a month for their unlimited 20Mbps package (£40 setup fee on a 12 month contract), which rises to £25 for a 100Mbps service and then £50 for 1000Mbps (Megabits per second). If you absolutely must also have a fixed phone line then that will set you back from another £12.50 per month. A TV package has also been mooted but we’re still waiting for it to emerge.
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After today’s announcement Hyperoptic only has 3 more cities to reveal, meanwhile they’ll be focusing upon the time-consuming and expensive task of rolling the service out to where demand is strongest. The old guard at BT and Virgin Media might not worry yet but their smaller rivals are clearly gathering pace, lest we not also forgot Sky Broadband and TalkTalk’s growing FTTH/P ambitions.
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