Metronet UK Bring Hybrid Fibre Optic and Wireless Network to Newcastle

Manchester-based business ISP Metronet UK, which operates a carrier-grade hybrid superfast fibre optic and wireless broadband network, has announced the roll-out of their platform to cater for businesses in the north England city of Newcastle.

The network expansion is being conducted in partnership with the Go Digital Newcastle scheme, which is an umbrella project for pretty much all of the city’s domestic and business focused broadband upgrade and improvement projects. As a result of the work broadband at speeds of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) should now be available to local businesses and 30 have already put in orders.

Metronet UK are also listed as a supplier under the Government’s Connection Voucher scheme, which means that small and medium sized businesses (SME) can also apply for grants worth between £200 and up to £3,000 in order to help them get a superfast broadband (30Mbps+) connection installed.

Lee Lawrence, Operations Director at Metronet UK, said:

“This new rollout means that we now have even stronger coverage across the UK and businesses in Newcastle can now take advantage of our services. At Metronet (UK) we do things differently meaning we can deliver faster connectivity which is flexible and great value for money, in turn meeting the needs of the city’s businesses. We have already connected several businesses in Newcastle and look forward to getting the rest of the city on Metronet (UK)’s network.”

It’s worth pointing out that all of this follows hot on the heels of a secondary management buyout, which was said to be worth £45m (here). Metronet UK itself has seen revenues of almost £12m in March 2014 (i.e. a 30% increase in turnover) and the operator hopes to conduct a major expansion of their network with this new investment; Newcastle appears to be the first to benefit.