Gigaclear’s Broadband to Battle Zzoomm in Ascot and Sunninghill

Rural focused UK broadband ISP Gigaclear has today announced that they intend to deploy their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 4,300 premises in Ascot, and a further 4,400 properties in the village of Sunninghill (Berkshire). But they’ll need to fend off altnet rivals Zzoomm, and possibly also Trooli.

At present Gigaclear’s full fibre network is already present across much of the nearby area, which is largely thanks to their prior state aid supported deployment via the Building Digital UK programme and local authority. The provider is now in the process of expanding their existing network, on a commercial basis, to tackle some “underserved market towns” that were previously missed (infill).

According to today’s announcement, the project in Ascot and Sunninghill will require over 32,000 metres of fibre to be laid in new trenching, as well as through existing duct and pole infrastructure (Openreach PIA). Assuming all goes to plan, the expansion of Gigaclear’s network build to Ascot is expected to be completed by “early 2022.”

Laura Jones, Gigaclear’s South Central General Manager, said:

“We’ve already been building our network in rural Berkshire 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 Ascot, 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 only difficulty here is that, despite the otherwise economically challenging nature of this area for such deployments, Gigaclear are not the only operator with eyes fixed on it. Back in March 2021 another altnet provider called Zzoomm, which just so happens to be owned by Gigaclear’s former owner and CEO, Matthew Hare, revealed that they too were planning to start building across 9,000 premises in the area from this summer (here).

Admittedly Gigaclear may have the advantage here as their network is already present nearby, and they’ve also started to build into the target area. On top of that we note that another altnet provider, Trooli, similarly appear to have some FTTP build around the northern side of Sunninghill. Suffice to say that to have three altnet full fibre builders all present in close proximity is an incredibly rare sight, at least it is outside a few dense urban builds.

We have to question the economic sustainability of this sort of battle as such an area may struggle to support that many FTTP deployments, but at least locals look set to enjoy plenty of choice. Such a sight may however be quite galling for all those living in areas, including many urban locations, where there is still no choice of even a single FTTP provider, let alone three.