Gigaclear Sign John Henry Group for FTTP Broadband in Northamptonshire

Rural UK ISP Gigaclear has signed a new deal with civil engineering company the John Henry Group, which will help to extend their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/H) broadband network to 21,000 homes and businesses in the East Midlands (Northamptonshire, UK).

The agreement, which will help to extend Gigaclear’s existing footprint in the district to a total of 27,000 premises, should result in the first customers going live by April 2018 and the full roll-out is then due to be completed by December 2018.

The project will cover over 6,300 properties through Superfast Northamptonshire‘s state aid supported Broadband Delivery UK contract with the ISP (the £10.23m BDUK contract was signed in January 2017), with a further commercial investment from Gigaclear to connect the additional 15,000 properties (this will link the existing networks together).

Joe Frost, Gigaclear’s Business Development Director, said:

“This new contract with the John Henry Group will enable Gigaclear to roll out the latest and very best broadband technology to thousands of households and businesses across the East Midlands.

Our investment in full fibre not only brings the area into the 21st Century, it stands as an example of the kind of futureproofed technology that is vital to ensure the continued development of the UK’s digital economy.”

Jim Henry, Director of the JHG, added:

“John Henry Group is delighted to have been selected as a construction partner to support Gigaclear’s ambitions to deliver next generation networks across the Northamptonshire area.

Both John Henry Group and Gigaclear have both significant and tested experience in delivering fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) projects to rural communities and as a business, we are looking forward to working with Gigaclear to ensure this next phase of its network development is a success.”

Gigaclear has recently signed a number of similar civil engineer contracts for other parts of England, such as a £90m deal with Complete Utilities to reach 70,000 premises in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire (here) and a £200m contract with Carillion telent for 80,000 premises in South West England (here). Narrow Trenching technology looks set to form a big part of all these deals.