Three Alternative Broadband ISPs Prep New UK FTTP Builds

Three alternative network (altnet) providers – Briant Broadband, Spring Fibre and Stix Internet – have today revealed their intention to deploy gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks to homes and or businesses across different parts of the United Kingdom.

All three ISPs were spotted after they put in a request for Code Powers from Ofcom (here, here and here), which is something that network operators often do in order to help speed up the deployment of new fibre optic networks and cut costs by reducing the number of licenses needed for street works.

The applications for Briant Broadband and Stix Internet also mentioned a desire to build or extend a complementary Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network alongside their FTTP plans. All three also intend to make some use of Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles via the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

As usual ISPreview.co.uk has done a little digging in the hope of finding out some more information about each of the companies involved.

Briant Broadband

Ofcom’s documentation notes that Briant Broadband (incorporated on 11th August 2020), which is a subsidiary of Briant Communications (Sussex) Ltd, plans to deploy their FTTP network in England. The focus is said to be on “areas without access to high-speed broadband, including in hard-to-reach rural communities and areas served only by BT’s copper access network.” People living in multi-dwelling units and residential estates are also on their list.

The provider’s website suggests that this will probably be focused, at least initially, on the Sussex area and indeed they already offer a 1000Mbps package for just £40 per month. Unfortunately their website is extremely sparse on package details, or indeed any useful information concerning specific network availability, which is a common problem with a lot of providers (you have to email or call them for more details).

Spring Fibre

Ofcom’s documentation reveals even less about Spring Fibre, which was incorporated on 25th September 2019 and has already allocated around £16m+ worth of shares. The provider intends to deploy FTTP in areas that are “not currently served by such networks or where is there very little offering of such networks, mainly areas served only by [FTTC] networks. It intends to meet the growing demand for increased bandwidth and provide services with speeds up to 10 Gbit/s.”

Spring’s website is currently just a holding page, although their Linkedin profile suggests that the plan is to build a wholesale full fibre network that other ISPs can harness. The company’s CEO is listed as Rosalind Singleton, who is a former MD of UK Broadband Ltd (Three UK) and an active chair of the UK5G Advisory Board. She has also previously worked for BT, Cable and Wireless and Vodafone etc.

In short, we might not yet know the extent of Spring Fibre’s future plans, but they clearly have both funding and experience behind them, which is always a good start for any new venture.

Stix Internet (Northern Fibre)

Finally, we come to Stix Internet, which has been offering a fixed wireless broadband service (i.e. download speeds of up to 40Mbps and 10Mbps upload) to rural parts of Yorkshire for several years (mostly in areas to the South and East of Huddersfield). The company, which was incorporated in 2017, has two Directors – Tony Markham Armitage and Ross Lloyd Williams.

The proposed FTTP network is thus intended to be deployed within their current service area “initially“, and latterly elsewhere in the United Kingdom (focusing on those areas that are otherwise limited to copper based fixed broadband lines). Early packages will offer speeds of between 100Mbps and up to 500Mbps, albeit with future plans for 10Gbps.

At present Stix is quite a small ISP and so it’s unclear where the funding for their FTTP expansion will come from, although there are still plenty of investors hunting around for new opportunities and the gigabit voucher scheme will no doubt help. Stix informs us that the new service will be sold via Northern Fibre and the first deployment looks set to be in the HD8 and HD9 areas.