Gigaclear Reach First 1000 Gloucestershire Premises with FTTP Broadband

Rural ISP Gigaclear has confirmed that their Fastershire Phase 2 project, which is funded by £3m of state aid from Broadband Delivery UK and £7m from the provider itself, has already put its 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network within reach of 1,000 extra premises in Gloucestershire (England).

The project goal is to cover 6,495 additional premises (homes and businesses) by the end of 2017, which will focus upon locations including Guiting Power, Chedworth, Whelford, Bibury and Icomb (i.e. communities in the Cotswolds). Sadly the network roll-out was affected by a brief outage last week (here), but otherwise the progress has been fairly smooth.

Apparently one of the first premises to benefit from the initial roll-out was St. Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, which can now access Gigaclear’s “ultrafast” network and as a result their upload speeds are said to be “80 times faster than before and 25 times faster download speeds“. The School has since invested in brand new computer technology, which has been separately funded by the Chedworth Community Land Trust.

Joe Frost, Gigaclear’s Marketing Director, said:

“St. Andrew’s is the very first school to benefit from the new ultrafast service through the Fastershire project and we are proud to have reached this milestone working alongside Gloucestershire County Council. Digital skills are a hugely important part of education today, so we’re looking forward to connecting more schools in rural Gloucestershire to our world-class and future-proof network.”

Mark Hawthorne, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said:

“There are many learning opportunities now available through the internet which makes access to fast and reliable broadband essential both at school and home, and Fastershire’s delivery of an ultrafast connection to more than 6,500 of the most isolated homes and businesses in the Cotswolds will have a significant impact. I’m sure the pupils and staff of St Andrews will benefit hugely now they are a part of Fastershire.”

All of this work is in keeping with the wider Fastershire roll-out, which already aims to deliver around 90% “fibre broadband” coverage across both Gloucestershire and Herefordshire by the end of 2016. After that they hope that everyone “will be able to access the broadband services they need” by the end of 2018.