Isle of Man Set for 13% Coverage of 1Gbps Broadband by End of 2018

Manx Telecom‘s roll-out of a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) ultrafast broadband ISP network on the Isle of Man is making progress. The operator now expects to reach 13% of local premises (4,600 homes and businesses) by the end of 2018.

The island, which is a British Crown Dependency, is currently home to a resident population of more than 83,000 and until last year locals could generally only access slower ADSL2+ based copper line (up to c.20Mbps) and FTTC (VDSL2) based hybrid fibre broadband solutions (speeds up to 80Mbps).

However, this began to change last summer 2017 when MT announced that their VDSL2 network would be upgraded to use the latest VDSL Plus (VPlus) technology, which has increased the top speeds to 200Mbps by introducing both Vectoring (reduces cross-talk interference) and a 35MHz profile. Openreach (BT) skipped this in the UK and went straight to G.fast instead (due to technical, regulatory and cost issues).

As a result of that customers can now pay £36 per month to get an unlimited 100Mbps FTTC package and this jumps to £46 for the top ‘up to’ 200Mbps (20Mbps upload) tier. On top of that MT also pledged to start deploying a new “full fibre” FTTP network to an initial 77 locations (here), starting with key business districts and industrial estates.

The first non-trial areas to go live on the new fibre optic network were confirmed in March 2018 and these included the Island’s main business district – Athol Street (Douglas) – and the residential area of Reeyt Ny Sheear (just off Johnny Watterson’s Lane, Douglas).

Prices for FTTP range from £42 per month on a 24 month contract for a 20Mbps (1Mbps upload) package and go all the way up to £146 for the top 1000Mbps (200Mbps upload) tier. Not cheap but then MT does face some unique challenges on such an isolated island.

Graham Shimmin, Head of Wholesale at Manx Telecom, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be launching new Fibre To The Premise technology on the Island and rolling out services to homes and businesses through 2018 and beyond. It’s the result of significant investment, both financially and in terms of the work undertaken by our locally based engineering teams. I would personally like to thank all of my colleagues involved in this major development and ongoing roll-out programme.

Providing a fibre optic cable right into a home or business enables a superior, future-proof connection that cannot be surpassed by other technologies. By the end of this year we are aiming to have made direct fibre broadband available to approximately 4,600 residential and business premises on the Island.”

MT claims that 100% of the Island’s premises, where a fixed line exists, should currently have access to broadband speeds of up to 16Mbps; 91% of the Island’s premises have access to speeds up to 40Mbps; 84% have access to speeds up to 100Mbps; and just 21% can access speeds up to 200Mbps (mostly all via ADSL2+ and FTTC / VDSL2).

At the end of last year MT claimed that the Island’s average download speed was just over 37Mbps, while the average upload speed was just under 3Mbps. Obviously FTTP will change that but it’s going to take a long time and at present there isn’t a firm deployment plan for 2019. Instead the operator will complete their 2018 rollout and then review its progress (take-up, cost etc.), before deciding upon any future plans.