UPDATE Direct Save Telecom Launch FTTH Broadband for New Build Homes

In an unexpected move the budget ISP Direct Save Telecom has today announced the launch of a new “low-cost unlimited high-speed” Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) based broadband service for new builds in the United Kingdom, with prices starting from just £4.95 per month. But details appear to be in short supply.

Apparently “new-build home owners will now have a choice for the first time over what broadband supplier they can have“, although sadly the press release makes precious little mention of which developments support the service (availability) or indeed whether the network is self-built or being provided by Openreach or another utility infrastructure developer, such as GTC.

New build developments often use different network builders and so it’s important to know the answer to questions like this. Interestingly the title of DST’s press release may give a hint because it describes the product as an “alternative to seethelight“, which suggests the use of an Independent Fibre Networks Limited (IFNL) platform (seethelight use IFNL) and that is available at some but not all new builds.

Stavros Tsolakis, CEO of Direct Save Telecom, said:

“We have had excellent feedback about our new build fibre to the home launch, the product is excellent and the pricing is extremely competitive – it’s quite simple, if people go with Direct Save Telecom they will save money.

Consumers living in these new build homes are in a very fortunate position as most of the UK does not have the option of high-speed fibre to the home broadband. The only drawback was they had no choice, until now, as seethelight was the only provider who serviced these new builds.

We are delighted new-build owners now have a broadband choice. We are proud to say all our products are the lowest costing on the market, whether you are comparing them with the big 4 telcos or seethelight.

What’s more all our prices remain constant for the entirety of the contract with no hidden price jumps, and our UK-based technical support and customer services means set-up could not be more straight forward.”

It’s important to stress that Seethelight are by no means the only ISP serving new build developments, with BTOpenreach’s network even able to reach a few via FTTP and indeed some of the areas covered by Hyperoptic would perhaps also fall into a similar bracket. A number of developers are also working with smaller FTTH builders, such as Keycom.

Otherwise the service will come in four different flavours, with prices starting at just £4.95 for its unlimited 25Mbps (Megabits per second) value option and rising to 40Mbps for £8.95, 100Mbps at £25 and 300Mbps for £48.50 a month. A free wireless router is also included, although no details about the hardware have been offered.

Early adopters will also benefit from receiving the first three months of service for free, while a 12 month contract applies and users will still have to pay £14.45 a month for line rental (strictly speaking FTTH providers shouldn’t need to enforce this). Apparently the line rental includes either free weekend or evening and weekend UK calls.

We’ve asked DST for a little more detail and have been promised a reply for tomorrow.

UPDATE 6:56am

The ISP has added a new web page for its FTTH service, which lists all the sites where it’s available and as expected this appears to be a match for IFNL’s fibre optic network. The section also reveals that new customers will need to pay a £70 one-off activation fee or £25 for the transfer of an existing service.

In the next few days DST’s online sign-up process will change significantly to include both Openreach and the new build developments. In the meantime, new build customers can call the UK sales team 9am to 8pm on 0800 027 3930.