Full Fibre ISP Zzoomm Preps UK Rollout with £2.5m Supply Deal

Oxford-based ISP Zzoomm, which was setup earlier this year by Gigaclear’s founder (here) and aims to cover 1 million UK homes with a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network by the end of 2024 (here), has signed its next big supplier agreement with Hexatronic worth £2.5m.

Under the current plan Zzoomm intends to target their initial rollout, which is planned to start sometime this summer, toward smaller cities (e.g. Hastings, Amersham, Weymouth and Huntingdon) and the suburbs of larger cities (e.g. London and Birmingham). Such areas tend not to figure into the initial “full fibre” deployment plans of bigger rivals, which may help them to build a small first-mover style advantage.

So far the fledgling ISP has already signed an agreement to make use of ADTRAN‘s next generation XGS-PON solution and equipment to deliver a 10Gbps capable service to homes and businesses. By comparison today’s deal will see Hexatronic UK supply the passive network components for their network, including a “comprehensive logistics, engineering support and training package” (Hexatronic Fibre Access Matrix).

Matthew Hare, Zzoomm CEO, said:

“Hexatronic are a perfect partner for Zzoomm. Putting in place such a comprehensive arrangement means we’re free to focus on building a brilliant network and doing the best possible job for our customers. We’re confident in their full support as Zzoomm rolls out to towns and cities across the UK. This is another step to the UK’s full fibre future.”

The proof will be in the pudding and we’re still waiting to see some actual network build, which should hopefully follow in the coming months. Likewise there has been no news of new investment (Zzoomm started with an investment of £1m by its CEO), although we assume that the ISP now has more confidence in their financial foundation as otherwise they wouldn’t have signed a £2.5m supply deal.