ISP Lightning Fibre UK Begins Hastings FTTP Broadband Rollout

Some 45,000 homes and businesses in the coastal town of Hastings (East Sussex, England) have today been confirmed as the next to benefit from ISP Lightning Fibre‘s deployment of a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, with work now getting underway.

The operator, which currently aims to cover over 100,000 premises across parts of East Sussex, began their rollout in the Eastbourne area during 2019 (here) and has previously indicated that Hastings was also one of their future targets. But it seems as if last year’s investment boost from independent infrastructure and private equity firm Foresight (here) has helped to turn their plans into a reality.

Initially, the “full fibre” upgrade will cover TN34, 35, 37 and 38 (postcode areas); with additional, surrounding areas under consideration. Further announcements of local rollouts are expected from the company in the “coming months.”

The town doesn’t have much in the way of gigabit-capable rivals for the provider to worry about, although Openreach do have a few spots of FTTP coverage and Zzoomm originally mentioned the town as a possible future target.

Ben Ferriman, Lightning Fibre CEO, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“I live in Eastbourne and the poor connectivity really frustrated me, knowing Hastings also struggled I decided to level up both towns by building our own dedicated fibre optic network to give our communities the connectivity they deserve. Lightning Fibre is building high quality networks across East Sussex, creating quality local jobs and delivering a high-quality service at an affordable and competitive price for our customers.”

Colin Fitzgerald, Deputy Leader of Hastings Borough Council, said:

“This is tremendous news for Hastings, our residents and businesses. We have campaigned for years to improve our connectivity, both physical and virtual, and it is great to see that we are about to benefit from hyper fast broadband. The pandemic of the last year has meant many of us have had to work from home, and this kind of broadband will help both local residents and businesses, and those looking to relocate here. And it’s great to see that so many of the people employed on the project are locally based”.

Residential customers who join the service pay from £29 per month for an unlimited symmetric speed 100Mbps package on a 24-month contract term (plus £100 one-off for the setup), which apparently comes with a 10Gbps capable “modem” and Mesh WiFi system. The top 1Gbps plan pushes this to £59 and gives you a free setup. A VoIP (phone) service also appears to be available. Shorter 12 and 1-month terms also exist, at extra cost.