Hyperoptic to Add 5,000 Full Fibre Premises in the Midlands

UK ISP Hyperoptic, which builds 1Gbps capable “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband networks to large residential (MDU) and office buildings, has reached a new agreement with housing association Citizen that will see their service being deployed to cover some 5,000 additional properties in the Midlands.

Citizen’s portfolio includes over 30,000 homes across urban tower blocks, as well as properties in rural villages and towns, predominantly across Birmingham, Coventry and Worcester in England. The rollout is expected to “begin in the near future.” Hyperoptic will also be connecting a number of community hubs, to give local residents access to free connectivity, which they can use for recreation, or to support education and enterprise.

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.

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

“Citizen have a clear social purpose, which is to provide homes that are a foundation for life. We’re pleased to support this ambition. As well as digitally future-proofing properties, full fibre connectivity enables a host of social benefits across online financial savings and individual wellbeing.

Over the last ten years, we’ve built an industry-leading proposition for registered housing providers, which is why we‘ve become the go-to partner of choice. We look forward to the rollout and delivering a service that is so needed in these difficult times.”

Liz Bloomfield, Portfolio Manager at Citizen, added:

“We’re really excited that our full fibre broadband rollout with Hyperoptic is starting soon. We think it’s really important that our homes have access to the best broadband and I’m really pleased we’re already working towards our homes having gigabit broadband before the government’s target of 2025.

We’re also really pleased to be working with Hyperoptic to ensure some of our most vulnerable customers in our supported housing get free access to the broadband to support their education, to help with job opportunities and to support recreation activities.

Here at Citizen we believe passionately in our social purpose. We want to provide more than just a home; we want to provide a foundation for life.”

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