Hyperoptic Roll-out 1Gbps Fibre Optic Broadband into 7 Extra UK Cities

Fibre optic ISP Hyperoptic, which are already deploying their ultrafast 1Gbps (Gigabit per second) capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/B) broadband network into 13 cities across the United Kingdom, have confirmed that they will be adding seven new “hyper-cities” to that list.

The service, which is generally intended to connect homes inside big apartments (i.e. Multi-Dwelling-Units with at least 50 units) or office blocks, is already being deployed into related parts of London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Bristol, Reading, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and most recently Brighton was also added to the list.

The good news is that Hyperoptic will now be taking their total city count to 20 with the additions of Portsmouth, Watford, Leicester, Southampton, Slough, Edinburgh and Woking. Better yet their network is already said to be “live” in these cities and the first buildings to benefit will soon be targeted based on local demand (i.e. if you have an apartment in one of Hyperoptic’s cities then let them know you want their service)

The ISP quotes data from Thinkbroadband and notes that “many residents in these areas have to endure significantly slower speeds,” although it should be said that speedtests are often a poor gauge of underlying network availability (i.e. faster services are often available, but many consumers may not yet be prepared, aware or even able to move).

Average broadband speeds in new hyper-cities

Overall we believe that the provider now has a network that covers somewhere around 200,000 UK premises (one of these days we hope they’ll be able to furnish us with a concrete figure *subtle hint*) and we’ve been told that their long-held goal of expanding coverage to 500,000 premises by 2018 remains intact. Certainly today’s news would appear to support that direction.

Steve Holford, Hyperoptic’s Chief Customer Officer, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We are experiencing huge demand for our full fibre broadband – Brits are losing patience with flaky FTTC packages, they want a hyperfast and reliable service that supports multiple users streaming and surfing the Internet at the same time. We are committed to lead a step change in British broadband, setting a gold standard example for others to follow.

In Europe there are over 35.9 million FTTP subscribers – these users are getting the best out of the Internet and reaping the social and economic benefits. Digital leadership will not be achieved by sweating copper assets, but through innovative companies like ours increasing the availability of FTTP broadband. By expanding our footprint we are giving even more Brits the opportunity to experience the power of hyperfast broadband – we are confident as soon as the try full fibre broadband they won’t ever want to go back!”

Hyperoptic has certainly come a long way from its tentative beginnings in London, where they focused upon serving the big residential buildings that BT had so often left neglected. Thankfully BT’s failure to deliver a good service has also proven to be the lifeblood for competitors like Hyperoptic, which have been able to fill the digitally disadvantaged niche left behind.

In the grander scheme of things Hyperoptic are still of a limit scale, but that scale is growing faster than a hyperactive cat and their influence in the market is beginning to show some serious weight. On the other hand Virgin Media’s plan to put 1 million+ premises within reach of FTTP and BT’s own 2 million+ goal by 2020 (here) might introduce some additional pressure to the fight.