ISP Jurassic Fibre Update on East Devon FTTH Broadband Rollout

Full fibre UK ISP Jurassic Fibre, which toward the end of 2019 began to roll-out a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in South West England (here), has issued an update on their progress and to announce the next set of deployment locations in East Devon.

The provider, which is currently being funded by an investment of £250m from Fern Trading Limited over the next 5 years, hopes to eventually reach as many as 350,000 premises across Dorset, Devon and Somerset in England. Additional support is being provided by Tata Consultancy Services (software solution), Hydrotech Water Services UK, Swcomms and Barden Network Engineering (BNE).

Jurassic Fibre’s initial trial deployment focused on a limited area between Exeter Airport, Clyst St Mary and the Sowton Industrial Estate. But the ISP is now moving into the full commercial roll-out phase (one) and as a result they’re able to confirm the next batch of communities that can expect to benefit over the “coming weeks.”

JF Rollout Plan for Early 2020

Residential Communities

Aylesbeare, Bishop’s Court, Blackhorse, Clyst Honiton, Clyst St George, Clyst St Mary including Cat and Fiddle, Ebford, Exton, Farringdon, Lympstone, Oil Mill Lane, Perkins Village, Sowton Village, Woodbury and Woodbury Salterton.

Business Areas

Exeter Airport Industrial Estate, Hill Barton Business Park, Greendale Business Park and Sowton Industrial Estate.

Assuming all goes to plan then the new full fibre network should have reached Exmouth by “early summer” 2020, which will be the first large town to benefit from JF’s deployment. At present there’s only a tiny bit of FTTP present in the town from Openreach (BT), although the same operator has deployed quite a bit of their inferior but 330Mbps capable hybrid fibre G.fast technology.

Michael Maltby, CEO Jurassic Fibre, said:

“I’m proud to announce that we will be bringing full fibre ultrafast broadband with speeds of up to 1Gbps to thousands more people in local communities in the South West. We’ve completed the test phase to the east of Exeter, which was a great success, and our first customers have started to benefit from ultrafast fibre direct to their door.”

Exmouth Councilor, Pauline Stott, said:

“We desperately need better broadband in Exmouth and so it is very positive that Jurassic Fibre is bringing their network to the town. I am really pleased that we are finally getting better connected in this part of the world, as this area has previously been overlooked. I am certain that it will help businesses and residents enormously.”

At present the ISP seems to be following a partly demand-led approach to their build, which is supported by the fact that Aylesbeare was recently added to their initial plan “specifically in response to local demand, with strong support from residents and the parish council, after a packed community event in the village in January.”

We should remind readers that JF has already connected their first business customer – luxury hotel Lympstone Manor.