WeFibre Target 1Gbps Full Fibre for 1 Million UK Homes by 2023

The Telcom Group and sibling ClearFibre have today launched yet another sub-brand broadband ISP called WeFibre, which appears to be targeting social housing and aims to deploy their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 1 million premises by the end of 2023. Better yet this speed will cost you just £20.

At present ClearFibre itself is focused on catering for the private rental sector, while new entrant WeFibre has been tasked with serving homes and social housing, as well as nearby businesses. Homes can expect to pay from just £20 inc. VAT per month for their 1Gbps package, while businesses will pay £50 +vat per month and benefit from enhanced support, premium installation (it’s unclear what this means) and the latest Mesh WiFi kit.

The new provider said they’ll be building both urban and rural deployments to ensure an inclusive rollout, with a specific focus on “social housing and housing associations“. As part of their first phase, WeFibre plan to invest £5m in Marsden, West Yorkshire to build a brand new, full fibre network, which will be capable of delivering gigabit broadband speeds to more than 2,200 premises by 2021.

On top of that they’ll also be working to extend their existing full fibre networks in the North West, starting with Tameside in Greater Manchester and Blackpool, with the aim of delivering gigabit broadband speeds to a further 150,000 premises (50,000 premises and 100,000 premises respectively) by the end of next year.

Shaun Gibson, Telcom Group Co-CEOs, said:

“We believe the UK deserves a commercially disruptive, digitally inclusive and truly impactful new internet service provider that stands for doing what’s right for the consumer. This new initiative is something that no other service provider has dared to do despite having the resources to do so for some time. We are excited to start the roll out of our full fibre network in the North West and hope we set an example for others to follow. In deploying its network, WeFibre will create a full fibre infrastructure that will benefit residents, businesses and public services and enable the deployment of 5G and smart city projects throughout Marsden, Tameside and Blackpool with more locations to follow shortly.”

Tony Doyle, Head of ICT Services at Blackpool Council, said:

“We are delighted that the Fibre Blackpool project is working with residents and businesses in the local area to future proof their homes and businesses so they can take advantage of full fibre, gigabit internet capability. Access to gigabit capable full fibre services puts Blackpool hugely on the map in terms of offering among the fastest connectivity speeds in the whole of the UK, which will further boost our ambitious economic development agenda and our drive to attract more inward investment, business growth, new business, and more jobs into Blackpool.”

WeFibre added that they intend to work closely with the West Yorkshire council, the Tameside council and Blackpool council to maximise the benefits of the rollout for the local community. Assuming all goes well, then the first customers will be connected to their new FTTP network by the end of Q1 2021.

This is the first step in their ambition to pass more than one million premises by 2023. Naturally, the Telcom group will need to attract a lot more investment in order to reach that goal.