Alternative network ISP County Broadband, which last year secured an investment of £46m to help it roll-out a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, claims to have identified 20 rural villages in South Norfolk and Breckland where they could extend their network in the near future.
The operator has already begun their deployment around several rural communities in Essex (here), where they’ve tended to focus on areas that suffer from slower ADSL or FTTC (VDSL2) speeds due to the presence of longer copper lines on Openreach’s (BT) network. By the looks of it they’re also now extending their plans to include parts of rural South Norfolk.
At this stage the provider appears to be keeping the exact details of their rollout close to their chests, although a report on EDP24 suggests that the communities are all in the Diss and Thetford areas which does narrow the likely target list down quite a bit (a number of village information meetings are said to be planned for later this summer).
The ISP operates a demand-led ultrafast broadband network, which means they’ll only go into communities where 30% of local premises have expressed an interest in taking the service. Assuming all goes to plan then County Broadband hopes to eventually cover 30,000 premises in poorly served areas across the East of England region.
Lloyd Felton, CEO of County Broadband, said:
“We are very excited to announce our first full-fibre rollout plans in Norfolk to help transform the county’s digital landscape and rural economies. Our investment in Norfolk’s infrastructure will not only make many forgotten villages fit for the future but will also place them in the top seven per cent for UK digital connectivity.”
Prices for the new service start at £39.99 inc. VAT per month for an unlimited symmetrical 30Mbps package on a 24 month contract term and rise to £74.99 for the top 1000Mbps tier.
UPDATE 1:07pm
Interestingly it appears as if CB has chosen to use different pricing for Norfolk vs their initial rollout in Essex. The ISP informs that prices for Norfolk actually start at £20 per month for 300Mbps and £27.50 for 600Mbps (terms apply), although we can’t check this as they’ve yet to announce a detailed rollout plan.
£40 for 30meg symmetic? That is some expensive broadband right there. Might be better to explore one of the wireless ISP’s in Norfolk instead.
Considering it’s for FTTH in a rural area that really doesn’t seem too terrible.
£20 per month for 300Mbps, we pay £31.99 for 1 mbps with BT in North Norfolk…
@Mark
Do you know what backhaul capacity is planned? IIRC an early FTTP proposal from County Broadband to a community talked about offering gigabit capable connections but was only intending to have 100Mbps backhaul, at least initially. Hopefully things have moved on from there!
The lower pricing to stimulate sign-ups in Norfolk is interesting, and very different to their strategy in Essex.
If they lower the pricing in Essex, they will have to include people who’ve signed an agreement at the old prices. The pre-contract agreement is only binding if other people sign up on substantially similar terms, and £27.50 for 600Mbps is not substantially similar to £64.99 for 500Mbps!
Their proposed pricing, picked from a random postcode in the area is:
Ultrafast Fibre – 300Mbps
£20 per month for 6 months. £40 per month thereafter, or continue at £20 and drop down to 50Mbps.
Hyperfast Fibre – 600Mbps
£27.50 per month for 6 months. £55.00 per month thereafter.
Business Ultra 300
£32.50 for first 6 months. £65.00 thereafter or drop to 50Mbps for £32.50 per month.
Business Hyper 600
£60.00 for first 6 months. £120.00 thereafter.
NR16 2AD if you’d like to verify.
So the headline price includes a 6 month discount, but the prices before discount are still quite a bit lower than Essex, especially the entry level package.
Entry price is half for a faster service.
If you would like further information or to see if you are in our roll out area please reply with contact details. I will be pleased to answer any questions you have.
I live at NR10 5DB. The total requirement for > 30Mb are 3 dwellings and a small business.
What chance do we have of Fibre to the Home in the next 2 years?