Hyperoptic Deploy 1Gb Fibre to Social Housing in Southampton

UK ISP Hyperoptic, which builds 1Gbps capable “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband networks to large residential (MDU) or office buildings, has today announced that thousands of Southampton City Council tenants in Hampshire now have access to their network thanks to a new supply agreement. More will soon follow.

The provider has been building their gigabit-capable broadband network in Southampton since 2016, although until now this has mostly focused upon connecting private sector properties. But the new wayleave (legal access) agreement means that they can more easily extend the installation of their network into council-owned properties, such as social housing.

At present Hyperoptic has already built their fibre optic cables to serve 4,000 Southampton City Council homes, with another 2,000 set to be added “soon“. On top of that it has also connected 14 community centres, where it will offer the general public free access to its service.

Customers typically pay from around £22 per month for an unlimited 50Mbps service and this goes up to £40 for 1Gbps (symmetric speed) on a 12-month minimum contract term (discounts applied).

Councillor Satvir Kaur, Southampton City Council, said:

“With more people working and learning from home, and needing a reliable internet connection to stay in touch with friends and family, an advanced digital infrastructure has never been more important. I’m therefore very grateful to Hyperoptic for making this service available to our tenants, investing in Southampton and supporting our ambition to become a leading digital city.”

Liam McAvoy, Hyperoptic’s Senior Director of Business Development, added:

“Fast and reliable broadband has the power to change lives and having access to it is an opportunity that we believe everybody deserves. We’re committed to bridging the digital divide and setting the best practice for the broadband sector – by following through on what we say and getting people connected, no matter whether they’re in a private or social home.”

The provider’s gigabit fibre network is currently present in parts of 43 UK towns and cities across well over 400,000 premises, including a large number in London, although they have previously expressed an ambition to cover 2 million UK premises by the end of 2021, followed by 5 million come the end of 2024 (mostly in urban areas). But we haven’t had a progress update on this for a while and thus those targets look to be on shaky ground.