Hyperoptic Bring 1Gbps Fibre to 160000 Social Housing Properties

City centric “full fibre” UK ISP Hyperoptic has announced that their on-going deployment of a 1Gbps capable broadband network is now expected to reach more than 160,000 social housing properties across the country, which represents a significant chunk of their overall FTTP/B roll-out.

Hyperoptic’s normal approach involves connecting their Fibre-to-the-Premises / Building (FTTP/B) based network to large residential or office buildings in dense urban areas (e.g. Multi-Dwelling Units with at least 50 units), although they have expanded to do a few new build housing estates and of course lots of council (social) homes.

The ISP is currently known to supply a number of registered providers of social housing, including A2Dominion, the Hyde Group, Catalyst, Genesis Housing Association and Notting Hill Housing Trust. It is also working with 50 councils across the UK, to supply connectivity to their social housing stock.

So far they’ve already built a network that they say covers well over 500,000 premises (mostly homes) in multiple UK cities (expected to reach parts of 50 cities and towns by Q1 2019) and last year they set a new target of 2 million premises by 2022, as well as a future aspiration for 5 million by 2025 (here).

The first target of 2 million is being supported by a recent debt raise of £250 million via eight international banks (here), although they’re starting to face growing competition from similar roll-outs by operators’ like Openreach, Community Fibre and Cityfibre etc.

Floyd Widener, Hyperoptic’s Chief Sales Officer, said:

“For too long ‘digital inclusion’ has been a buzzword that broadband providers have bandied around to secure grants and funding. It’s not the case for us. Working successfully with social landlords is a strategic priority for our business – which is why we are squarely focused on getting residents successfully connected. The provision of our full fibre service is just one part of this equation – we also offer digital skills training and flexible products, such as rolling contracts and a low-price broadband-only service.

Its proven that being able to take advantage of everything the Internet has to offer makes you financially better off, healthier and more communicative. We are committed to lead the charge to smash the digital divide and set the best practice for the broadband sector – following through on what we say, getting people connected and supporting them through the process to enhance their digital skills.”

Steven Waite, Director of Technical at A2Dominion, said:

“We recognise the vital role that fast and reliable broadband services can play in getting a tenant online. However in the past we’ve had very little control over what broadband and telephone services our residents could opt for. It was a broadband postcode lottery depending on the available existing broadband infrastructure at each site.

Thanks to our collaboration with Hyperoptic, thousands of properties across our portfolio are now enabled with its gigabit connectivity and its growing all the time.”

It has previously been estimated that 11.3 million adults in the UK remain digitally excluded and 37% of those are social housing tenants. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee similarly estimate that the digital skills gap is costing the UK economy £63bn a year in potential GDP. Hyperoptic believes that its roll-out will help to address that problem, at least some of it.

Meanwhile those who are able to join the service can usually choose from either a broadband and phone bundle or a broadband-only service on a 12 month contract. You can also get a “no contract” option (broadband-only), but this tends to cost a few pounds extra. All packages include unlimited usage, 24/7 support, a wireless router (e.g. ZTE H298A) and a dynamic IP address or £5 extra per month for a Static IP.