FibreNation Start 1Gbps FTTH Broadband Rollout in Batley

The FibreNation project, which is currently being acquired by Cityfibre from UK ISP TalkTalk for £200m (here), has today announced that they’ve begun work to roll-out their new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network to 6,000 premises across the town of Batley in Yorkshire by the end of 2022.

At present FibreNation have already nearly completed their roll-out to around 54,000 premises in the city of York and they recently started work to cover 61,000 premises in Dewsbury (here), not to mention 50,000 premises across the town of Harrogate (here). The town of Heckmondwike is also set to be connected to their network later this year, while Knaresborough and Ripon remain on their deployment list for the near future.

Currently the only broadband ISPs able to sell services over this network are TalkTalk and Sky Broadband (Ultra Fibre Optic), although that will change once the sale to Cityfibre completes at the end of this month (e.g. eventually Vodafone and others will also gain access).

Paul Crane, Head of Engagement and Rollout at FibreNation, said:

“Full fibre is the fourth utility we’ve all been waiting for and we believe that everyone should have access to the network.

That’s why we’re setting ambitious rollout targets and expanding the network across Yorkshire at a rapid pace – with Batley joining Dewsbury, Harrogate and York as live build areas and on the way to becoming gigabit-ready.

The benefits of full fibre are significant for homes, businesses and local economies, which is why we’re committed to connecting three million properties to the network over the next decade.”

So far FibreNation has put an initial investment of around £85m+ toward their full fibre builds across Yorkshire and they have a long-term ambition to reach 3 million UK premises, although this is due to be merged into Cityfibre’s target once the deal completes (i.e. £4bn to achieve 8 million premises by 2025 or later).