Alternative UK ISP Voneus Says Fast Broadband is a Basic “Human Right”

Alternative network provider Voneus, which has been busy delivering internet connections of up to 100Mbps into UK rural areas by using their ‘Wireless Fibre To The Home’ (WFTTH) service, has pledged to “ensure … fast broadband services become noticed as a basic ‘human right’“.

The operator’s WFTTH service is perhaps better described as being a fixed wireless access (FWA) network that is supplied by capacity from a fibre optic cable (fans of “fibre” in advertising terminology have probably had a heart attack by now), which is not unlike most other wireless solutions.

The ISP has already setup a number of such networks in rural locations across England, such as Dunton (Bedfordshire), Priddy (Somerset) and Miserden (Gloucestershire); they also have deployments in Buckinghamshire, Devon, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

Steve Leighton, CEO at Voneus, said:

“A good Internet connection isn’t a privilege only to be enjoyed in the cities. The Internet is for the masses and is in daily demand the length and breadth of the UK. It is one of today’s basic necessities and we want to put remote locations on that digital map by getting them connected.

Internet access is crucial for business, education and ordinary daily activities and those living in the country’s deepest, darkest pockets should not suffer and be left behind by a lack of a decent internet connection. This is why we’ve been working closely with local communities in currently poorly connected areas to rectify this; using innovative technology to ‘beam’ connections UK-wide.”

In today’s press release the operator also claims that it takes them only 3 months to deploy across a community, which they say is “up to 96% quicker than other broadband providers“. However this is said to be “based on average broadband provider taking 7 years (84 months) versus Voneus 3 months,” which left us scratching our heads as to the basis of their comparison.

The above claim doesn’t make a lot of sense and we think they’ve somehow conflated the time it takes Voneus to roll-out into a single community with the time that it could take Openreach (BT) to ensure 99% of UK premises are able to access a fixed line “fibre broadband” network as part of the proposed 10Mbps USO (here); not a very fair comparison, plus BT pegged their completion date as 2021-22 (i.e. 4-5 years, not 7).

The press release also says that Voneus itself has “over 100 years’ industry experience,” which we assume must mean the combined experience of all their staff as otherwise it doesn’t make any sense. Unless they’re time travellers and originally wrote that in the distant future, with Doc Browns help, possibly 🙂 . As an industry the internet hasn’t been around for anything like that long and neither has Voneus the company; it’s probably just a typo.

All of this rather distracts from the otherwise positive work and message that Voneus has today put out. Customers are typically offered speeds of 35-50Mbps (100Mbps is said to be possible) and pay from £20 inc VAT per month for a 20GB usage allowance or £34.99 for unlimited usage (plus a £149.99 installation fee). The ISP is clearly doing some excellent work, even if those who wrote the press release might need a prod or two.