Altnet UK ISP County Broadband Hails Seven-Fold Staff Increase

UK ISP County Broadband, which is currently deploying a 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service across rural parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in England, has today given itself a pat on the back after reporting a seven-fold (725%) increase in “business growth” (i.e. going from 16 employees in early 2018 to 116 now).

The provider, which is being funded by an investment of £46m from Aviva Investors and has already connected “thousands” of premises to their service (an exact figure is not provided), is currently working to extend their full fibre infrastructure across a total of over 100 villages in rural and remote parts of East Anglia.

The operator notes that around one in five employees are aged 16-25, although workers of all ages have joined from retail, hospitality, call centres and other backgrounds.

Lewis Simington, Director of People Operations at County Broadband, said:

“Our growth can only be seen as nothing short of phenomenal. The fact that we have grown so much is a testament not only to our future-ready rollout but also to our rural communities and our company culture of proactive support and career development.

The past year has painfully exposed how so many homes and businesses are ‘just about managing’ with unreliable copper-based connections. The only thing fast about superfast is its looming expiry date. We need to accelerate the rollout of real fibre networks, free of copper, to digitally future-proof rural communities, and our huge business growth is supporting this goal.”

Prices for the service may vary between areas, but in most cases new customers will typically pay from £28 per month (excluding discounts) for an unlimited symmetric speed 50Mbps service with a bundled wireless router, then £48 for 300Mbps, £55 for 600Mbps and £80 for 900Mbps. Otherwise, the costs reflect the rural nature of CB’s deployment, which is inherently more expensive to tackle.

NOTE: The picture used in this article was taken pre-COVID19.