UPD Fibre Break Hits Gigaclear’s Gloucestershire Fibre Optic Network

The on-going state aid supported deployment of Gigaclear’s new 5Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) broadband network in rural Gloucestershire (England) has suffered a blip today after their main fibre optic cable in the area was damaged, resulting in a loss of service for some locals.

Roll-out of the new Fastershire linked network, which was signed in June 2015 (here) and is funded by £3m of public investment and a further £7m of private investment from the ISP itself, began at the end of 2015. Much of the deployment has been focused on the county’s rural Cotswolds District.

Recently Gigaclear’s contractors have been spotted working on the A417, which passes between the villages of Birdlip and Stockwell that are both on the operator’s deployment path. Further out they also have teams finishing up work around the middle of Hilcot Brook (Withington). At this stage the details of today’s problem are still somewhat unclear, although Gigaclear has suggested that the problem is within the same area.

Gigaclear Statement

We are aware of problems in the Birdlip, Chedworth, Cockleford, Badgeworth and Withington areas caused by damage to a main fibre. Specialist contractors are on site and are working to repair the damage and restore the service.

It’s not known precisely when the problem began, although some customers in the Cheltenham (GL53) area reported that they were suddenly left without service at around 9pm last night and related messages to the ISP’s support department went unanswered until this morning (we note that their phone support is only open until 6pm).

Mind you it’s important to stress that major fibre breaks happen all the time across the United Kingdom and they can take anything from a few hours (most common) to several days or even weeks to resolve. Such breaks are usually caused by accidental contractor damage, although hopefully Gigaclear didn’t break their own cable (they appear to be the only contractors within the immediate area). We have requested more details.

UPDATE 11:10am

Gigaclear’s CEO, Matthew Hare, informs ISPreview.co.uk that the problem has been traced to an equipment fault within their 3rd party backhaul network. The ISP has promised to post hourly updates here: http://www.gigaclear.com/network-status/ .