Gigaclear Celebrate 15000th Rural UK Full Fibre Broadband Customer

Rural fibre optic ISP Gigaclear has today celebrated the connection of the 15,000th customer to their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/H) ultrafast broadband network, which now covers 60,000 homes and businesses across 20 counties of the United Kingdom (25% take-up).

The commercial operator has made a seemingly viable business case out of deploying FTTP/H networks into rural areas. On top of that they’ve also signed numerous state aid supported deployment contracts (mostly in the South West, Midlands and South East of England), with the aim being to cover 150,000 premises by the end of 2020 (here).

Apparently their 15,000th customer was Phil Patrick, who lives in a village near Bradfield in West Berkshire.

Matthew Hare, CEO of Gigaclear, said:

“We have come a long way since we delivered our first full fibre network in rural Rutland at the end of 2011. I’m very proud that in just over six years, Gigaclear has become such a significant challenger in the rural broadband market. It’s always great to meet our customers and hear how our service is transforming their lives, so I’m really pleased to mark this occasion.

We are one of the only providers delivering rural areas a totally futureproof solution with speeds of up to 1,000Mbps (1Gbps). Many rural communities have been largely forgotten by the big players so I’m looking forward to bringing our service to many more customers in the near future.”

Patrick, A Management Consultant, added:

“For me, a fast and reliable connection is essential. I rely on the internet to run my business from home; I frequently upload and share documents whilst liaising with my clients over the internet, so a strong connection is key. With our previous copper line connection, our speed was limited to a maximum of 4Mbps, which would noticeably dip at peak times and massively restrict my ability to work.

My youngest son, who is currently at university, is very excited for the arrival of Gigaclear’s ultrafast broadband. Not only will he be able to carry on with his university life whilst at home, but it’s going to be much easier to keep in contact with him via Skype. He’ll also be able to stream TV programmes and download films and music; we may even see more of him!”

Gigaclear said that they expect their customer base to reach 20,000 customers sometime this summer 2018. We should point out that take-up is something that grows organically with time and 25% is a respectable level for a provider at this stage of development, especially given their increasing focus on general deployments instead of focused demand-led ones.