ISP Spectrum Internet Extends FTTC and FTTP Service Across UK
Welsh ISP Spectrum Internet has informed that, in-between appointing some new executives, they have now made their Openreach (BT) based FTTC and FTTP broadband packages available to order across the United Kingdom (availability allowing). Previously these were only offered to parts of South West England and Wales.
The provider has built its own connectivity to some parent exchanges and as a result they may have different on-net and off-net pricing for these packages, which in practice means you can now order a normal FTTC or FTTP service (where available) from Spectrum but you’ll probably pay less if you happen to be covered by their own (on-net) network. The change was made last Friday.
The provider has also just appointed two new senior figures. The first is David Rees, partner at Izy Capital, who takes the title of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and joins the board. His focus will be on raising further investments to fund the company’s “aggressive targets for laying its own fibre infrastructure in the region.”
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The second appointment is Steve Wigley-Jones, who joins as Head of Infrastructure and Fibre Asset Management from Telent. His previous roles include Project Director for Openreach overseeing the delivery of a number of networks for Building Digital UK (BDUK) contracts. Most critically for Spectrum, Steve was Project Manager for delivering the state aid supported Superfast Cymru Project.
Managing Director, Giles Phelps, said:
“I’m delighted that we’ve attracted such heavy hitters to the team. Their knowledge and experience support our growth plans but it’s their passion for seeing local successes are what make them stand out. I’m excited to be working with them as we enter our next growth stage.”
The ISP has also confirmed that, earlier this year, they began connecting customers on the SouthPoint Industrial Estate in Cardiff and Old School Lane in Bristol to “full fibre” broadband with speeds of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). Both areas were previously suffering from speeds of less than 5Mbps.
Spectrum’s future expansion plans cover many South Wales unitary authorities including Monmouthshire, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Interesting to see some hybrid FTTP offers surfacing.
Hybrid in this case being backhaul from ANOTHER and last mile from OR.
Puts more pressure on pricing when each segment is fully competitive.
I wonder if SSE etc are going to offer virtual slices of backhaul to smaller ISP’s: that would shake things up even more if they could buy backhaul by the Gig – not a dedicated fibre but shared with guaranteed min throughout point to point. That would also start to shake out the leased line market.
That’s how it’s worked for years. How do you think the likes of Zen have reached so many exchanges?
@Bob
Yup, but not for all glass connections.
With all glass the quality of the connections is also a big differentiator. Not all connections are equal.
“Hybrid in this case being backhaul from ANOTHER and last mile from OR.”
Ermmmm its always been “hybrid”. Backhaul on Openreach FTTP is usually BT Wholesale which isn’t Openreach (yeah yeah I know they’re both bart of BT but they’re different divisions).
@A_Builder Openreach handover FTTP to CPs in exactly the same way as FTTC. GEA cablelink from Layer 2 switch to CP switch @ either 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps. “all glass connection” makes no difference other than CPs may want more backhaul bandwidth if they are offering the higher bandwidth FTTP options.
Indeed, Spectrum do now sell FTTP nationwide. However in most areas, it will be an “off-net” service on BT Wholesale tails and is priced considerably higher than their own “on-net” services. For example their 330/50 off-net offering is £99/m whilst their 1000/220 on-net is £350/m month.