Gigaclear Focus on Infill as it Extends FTTP to Chipping Norton

Rural focused UK broadband ISP Gigaclear has begun a new phase of network expansion in their existing deployment areas, which will see their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service being extended into some places that they’d initially missed (infill). One of the first towns to benefit will be Chipping Norton in West Oxfordshire.

At present the provider’s gigabit-capable network can be found in 450 communities across parts of 22 counties in England and the operator, which last year secured a huge £525m financing deal from Lloyds, Natwest, Santander and ABN Amro (here), now has an ambition to cover more than 500,000 rural UK properties by 2023 (they’ve already completed build to 170,000 premises).

The operator has today announced that they’re also about to start deploying across the small town of Chipping Norton (c.3,700 premises), which until now has been largely left alone and that’s despite Gigaclear’s full fibre network encircling it via all the surrounding areas. Openreach also has a tiny FTTP deployment in the town and is similarly present in many surrounding areas, but they’ve yet to announce a similar expansion.

A number of similar infill focused commercial build decisions are also expected to follow over the coming months as Gigaclear moves to tackle other communities that have previously been left out.

Ben Woods, Gigaclear’s Central General Manager, said:

“We’ve already been building our network in rural Oxfordshire where we’ve focussed on bridging the digital divide and addressing inadequate broadband provision. Now that we’ve got a well-established network here, we can turn our attention to its market towns, like Chipping Norton, which are calling out for better internet.

Fast broadband speeds are a necessity for a modern economy. The way in which we live and work depends on the internet, something that has been sharply underlined by the pandemic. We believe in digital inclusion for all and we’re excited to bring our network to more people so they can enjoy the life-changing benefits that come with world-leading connectivity.”

The build in Chipping Norton has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. On top of that they’re also extending into Thame (6,185 premises) and Haddenham (2,315 premises). The network in Haddenham is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, while Thame will be done by early 2022. Both have rival gigabit broadband networks, such as from Airband, Openreach and Swish Fibre.