GTC Build 300Mb FTTH Broadband to 3650 New Homes in Northamptonshire

Utility infrastructure builder GTC (Brookfield Utilities UK) has unveiled a new deal with property developer Bovis Homes, which will result in 3,650 New Build Homes in Wellingborough (Northamptonshire, England) being connected to their 300Mbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) broadband network.

The major residential focused development will take place at Bovis’s £900 million Stanton Cross project, which also includes 1.55m sq ft of commercial space that will similarly benefit from access to GTC’s new electricity and fibre optic broadband connections. The new homes will cover a range of sizes and styles, from 1 and 2 bedroom apartments close to the station hub to 6 bed family homes, with gardens, close to the nearby lakes.

As usual it’s always cheapest to lay new fibre optic cables during the earliest phases of a new build and that’s precisely the approach that GTC takes. On top of that GTC’s deal with Sky (Sky Broadband) means that the new homes will also benefit from premium TV services, which is delivered via a Fibre Integrated Reception System (FIRS).

The FIRS system delivers TV services via GTC’s fibre optic cables and thus only needs to utilise a single central satellite receiver and aerial array to serve the whole site, which is better than putting a dish on every roof or apartment block that wants one. On the other hand it also means that any problem with the centralised distribution can affect a wide area.

Tom Brough, GTC’s Sales and Marketing Director, said:

“It is important to GTC that we are able to offer future-proofed, multi-utility solutions to benefit new communities for many years to come. It also makes a great deal of sense for house builders to be able to obtain all essential utilities through one reliable provider in order to ensure new home completions are delivered on time and on budget.”

John Lougher, Bovis Homes Group Land Director, added:

“We are pleased to be working with GTC at Stanton Cross. Technology plays an increasingly important role in our lives, especially in our homes and businesses where high-speed fibre and a super-fast Internet connection is in such demand.

We are delighted that future businesses and residents of Stanton Cross will benefit from this very latest technology by GTC.”

The development itself looks set to be the largest growth that Wellingborough has seen since the 1960s and, alongside new homes, it will create in excess of 3,000 jobs and provide new commercial facilities for leisure, retail, industrial and professional service businesses.

We should point out that the Brookfield Utilities UK (BUUK) group also includes Independent Fibre Networks (IFNL) and related ISP Seethelight. GTC have also done supply deals with other ISPs too, such as VFast and Direct Save Telecom.

Today’s news follows hot on the heels of last month’s big announcement, which saw GTC follow BT and Virgin Media’s lead by signing a new national deal with the Home Builders Federation (HBF) that will help to raise awareness of their FTTH solution for new build developments like the one in Wellingborough (here).