Churchill Gardens Named Largest FTTH Broadband Estate in Central London

Urban focused ISP Community Fibre has claimed that their deployment of 1Gbps capable fibre optic broadband (FTTH/B) to all 1,700 properties on the Churchill Gardens Estate in Pimlico (Westminster) makes it the “largest full fibre-optic estate anywhere” in central London.

The provider, which aspires to cover 500,000 homes in London (here) and recently secured a private investment boost of £11.3 million (here), states that Churchill Gardens is the 16th housing estate across Westminster, Wandsworth and Camden to benefit from their new “full fibre” network.

So far the operator has deployed to “nearly” 10,000 premises in London (their contract with Wandsworth council alone is for double that) and they expect to reach 40,000 premises passed by the end of 2018. Apparently “hundreds of residents” in the Churchill Gardens estate have already decided to adopt the new service.

Customers typically pay from just £20 per month for a 20Mbps (1Mbps upload) service and this rises up to £50 for a symmetric 1000Mbps connection, which includes free installation and unlimited usage.

Rachael Robathan, Cabinet Member for Housing (Westminster Council), said:

“It is great news that the residents of Churchill Gardens Estate will benefit from ultrafast broadband. This will enable them to use multiple devices and have faster access to internet services that can help support them to live, work and thrive in the heart of London.”

Jeremy Chelot, Chief Executive of Community Fibre, said:

“We are delighted to be able to make our faster, better and cheaper Internet services available to the residents of the Churchill Estate. I, myself, grew up in social housing and getting Internet access gave me the opportunities that have brought me to lead this great company. I hope that our ultrafast Internet services can bring similar opportunities to the residents of Churchill Estate.”

We have not been able to independently verify whether Churchill Gardens really is the “largest full fibre-optic estate anywhere” in central London, but given its size the estate is definitely a contender. Other operators, such as Openreach (example), Hyperoptic and Virgin Media, have also been busy rolling out into large estates around the city.

On top of that the City of London Corporation (CoLC) aims to bring ultrafast fibre optic broadband speeds to 7,500+ residents in 12 central London housing estates (here).