Full Fibre ISP Gigaclear to Extend Network into Braintree Town

Rural focused UK ISP Gigaclear has announced that their existing deployment of gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology in the Braintree District of Essex is to be extended into the local town of the same name. As a result the provider now expects to cover 20,000 premises in the area.

At present Gigaclear already has an on-going deployment across parts of the Braintree District, which is being conducted as a result of their state aid supported Phase 3 contract via the Superfast Essex (SFE) programme – this is due to complete by the end of December 2021.

However, the provider’s latest announcement doesn’t reference SFE and their new move to enter the town of Braintree itself – covering a total of 20,000 premises – is thus part of a separate commercial deployment within Essex. The communities of Rayne and Great Notley are also expected to benefit from this work.

Tony Smith, Gigaclear’s Regional General Manager for the East of England, said:

“We are more committed than ever to bringing ultrafast broadband to underserved rural communities, whether a hamlet or a market town, empowering them to be able to do more. As we continue to build our ultrafast, full-fibre broadband network across Braintree District, it is the logical next move for us to extend the network to the homes and businesses of Braintree town, and means that even more families, home workers, community services and local businesses alike will enjoy the life-changing benefits of world-leading connectivity.

Our network will allow people to work from home effectively, with unrivalled internet speeds making it simple to access cloud services and host video calls. It will also deliver benefits to local amenities and services like pubs, libraries, surgeries, clinics and schools, minimising interruptions so that online resources can be fully utilised.”

Councillor Tom Cunningham, Braintree District Council, said:

“This investment of providing nearly 20,000 homes and businesses with better ultrafast broadband will bring massive connectivity benefits to more people, young and old, living and running businesses in Braintree and surrounding villages.

We want to improve things for the better in our community, now more than ever, and working with Gigaclear on this infrastructure is a crucial element to support our economy as businesses bounce back from the economic impact of Covid-19, but also improve lives with better online access to public services.”

The network build, which is due to commence before the end of 2020, is expected to take 24 months to complete. Sadly, there’s no mention in their announcement of how much this deployment is going to cost, although their website appears to be quoting a figure of £20 million (that’s about £1,000 per premises – not the cheapest of commercial builds).

The good news for Gigaclear is that they won’t face much competition, since so far none of their rivals have made any major deployments of gigabit-capable connectivity in the town. Given the cost, we can kind of see why.