UK ISP Giganet (M12 Solutions) has today revealed that their latest project, which involves building a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across poorly served parts of Southern England (here), will be complemented by the launch of a related “Try Before You Buy” style promotion.
Just to recap. Giganet already sells full fibre services via CityFibre and Openreach’s network, but last month saw them secure an investment of £250m from Fern Trading in order to fuel their own network build. The new network aims to cover 300,000 premises across poorly served parts of Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex.
Work on the new network has already begun and some of the first locations to benefit are expected to include Wimborne, Ferndown, Ringwood, Fordingbridge and the communities between (i.e. mostly around the Dorset and Hampshire area).
In order to support this Giganet has now taken the wraps off their new “Try Before You Buy” deal. The offer gives new customers on this network the opportunity to try their unlimited 500Mbps symmetric full fibre package, with nothing to pay until October 2022 (pricing will return to normal thereafter). Along with no set up or installation costs for all standard installations.
On top of this, customers on the new network will also have the ability to leave without penalty at any time, with just 30 days’ notice, even after the free use period.
Jarlath Finnegan, Giganet CEO, said:
“This is a truly different approach to other ISPs and makes a bold statement. We want to prove the case for full fibre and encourage strong take-up. It is going to be great for busy families, home workers and help to drive a greener, more connected world. It should also help those who are locked into a copper-based deal and allow them to experience the benefits of full fibre sooner than they otherwise might. Our deal after this free initial period isn’t set yet, though we are always in line with market prices.”
As Jarlath mentions above, the packages for their new network haven’t yet been set, and so we don’t yet have the full context for what customers can expect to be paying beyond the free period. But the aim of their new promotion is clearly designed to peel customers away from slower FTTC and ADSL products in the areas they’re targeting.
This is a really interesting offer, and I’ve already seen Giganet at work pulling fibre along Wimborne Road East and Ringwood Road near to Sainsbury’s. I’ve not seen any mention though of when they will start deploying it to individual customers. Does the date of October 2022 give some indication of the speed of when they will have customers up and running?
Hi Andy
Good to have been seen – yes our guys are working hard out there in a few areas. You’ll be pleased to learn that first customer connections will be this autumn.
Andrew, thank you for your reply. Great to see the boss of a company getting involved in discussion.
When I saw the work in progress was Bank Holiday Monday of all days. That shows real dedication (or the B/H pay rates). It looked like they were pulling Fibre using OR shared access.
Living in the area, what would be nice to know is some kind of indication of when we are actually looking at the service going live in the different parts of Ferndown. It was nice to have a card sent through the post but it would be nicer to know if there is going to be a 6 month or even a 12 month wait for the service to go live rather than being teased that it is coming soon. I’m looking forward to having better internet than I have at the moment and so far, everything I’ve seen looks like Giganet will be a really good offering.
Andy – nice comments, these days I’m a boss not the boss! & I guess you registered with us, we’ve had pretty good interest so far from the 62k cards posted out in the 4 counties. We’ll next do advertorials in The Stour and Avon for example to encourage more registrations in your district before giving all who’s email we have, and some targeted social media to those who we haven’t,a broad indication of what it means to them. The last thing you need is knowledge that we are just 2 months away and you renewed with your copper provider. That said our ‘Try’ deal helps those in contract, as well as the skeptics who think their copper provision is good enough.
Hi Andy, have you heard anything else since your post? I live in Ferndown too although just on the border with west parley down Ringwood Road so hoping they come this way. I keep seeing more Giganet vans around Sainsburys so hopefully its getting close!
Interesting concept and curious to see how its marketed.
So is the marketing in areas they are digging in already? if so then this is quite a savvy way to FTTP into a property without an installation visit post install.
TalkTalk did a similar ‘Entry price’ to encourage takeup and it converted quite well into paying customers, so doing it this way would actually make quite good marketing sense, get them hooked on the samples and then convert.
That’s quite a brilliant idea. There are many people who haven’t ever experienced anything better than ADSL, so they would probably be hesitant to switch if their current service “works fine”.
I doubt they’ll have many people switching back to DSL after the free period ends.
Wish they would just roll out to market towns.
Any idea on a go live for the Ringwood area?
Hi Jason, first homes in Q1 2022 all being well.