ISP B4RN Extend Rural Full Fibre Network to 17,000 UK Premises

The B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) project, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural premises in several English counties, has revealed that they’ve now covered around 17,000 premises (8,600 connected customers) and are trialling a new £5 Connect Plus tariff.

The provider, which is a registered Community Benefit Society (i.e. it can’t be bought by a commercial operator and profits are distributed back into the community), first began deploying “full fibre” services to remote rural homes in Lancashire during 2012, and they’ve since expanded across various parts of Cheshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Yorkshire.

Originally, the majority of their network was funded by communities investing in the company through shares, and many of those did so while also helping to physically build the new fibre infrastructure (volunteers on soft digs through fields etc.). But more recently they’ve also been harnessing millions in gigabit vouchers and community investor loans, which has enabled them to build faster and establish their own team of civil engineers.

Sadly, the provider has faced some disruption to their plans during 2020, which was mostly as a result of several COVID-19 related lockdowns and the tier system that was introduced in between. In short, the pandemic restrictions made it harder to recruit, train and work with volunteer groups and for the volunteers themselves to engage with their communities.

But that doesn’t appear to have dampened their expectations for the future, particularly now that work has returned to a more normal level.

Michael Lee, B4RN’s CEO, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We are currently at c17,000 properties passed, with c8,600 connected customers. This includes 115 places of worship, small schools and other community assets receiving free service. Projects where we are currently in-build will see us pass another c7,200 properties, and a further c27,000 properties fall under areas which are in the planning stage.

In the five-year window, B4RN is targeting c46,000 more properties passed on top of that. In all cases, we assume a 50% connection rate based on our historical average. Much of our planned and targeted future coverage lies around the traditional ‘B4RNland’ of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Northumberland and, particularly, Cumbria. Expansion is also planned around our network in Norfolk.”

One of the provider’s biggest achievements on this journey only came recently after they, backed by local volunteers, announced the completion of their build across the large village of Halton (Lancashire), which was one of their largest single deployments and serves c.1,000 premises. For the harder parts, B4RN used a narrow trenching, 100mm, dig model along the pavements and roads (dropping a Toby Box outside each home).

The Halton build, was took 10-months from start to finish, was the first job for their “B4RN Village” build programme – Levens (Cumbria) will be the next to benefit from this. In addition, the provider has revealed to us that they’re also trialling a new offer called Connect+ (pronounced “Connect Plus“) in these two villages.

Essentially, people locked into a contract with another ISP will be able to get connected to B4RN and pay just £5 per month for service, at least until their existing contract ends – the customer then moves on to a standard monthly tariff at £30 per month. The only catch is that you’ll still have to pay their £150 installation fee, but otherwise they continue to be one of the UK market’s cheapest gigabit broadband providers.

Suffice to say, B4RN has come a very long way since those early days in 2012, and they’re still putting many of their bigger rivals to shame. We can’t wait to see what they’re able to achieve over the next 5 years. JFDI.