New UK ISP Brsk Starts FTTP Broadband Build in West Yorkshire

Bath-based UK ISP brsk has today named the first locations in West Yorkshire (England) to benefit from their new gigabit-capable “open access” Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network, which has already begun its civil engineering phase, and they’ve even managed to connect their first customer.

We first spotted brsk all the way back in February (here), although at the time very little was known about them, except for their desire to deploy a new full fibre network across parts of Northern England, and their intention to run some of those cables through Openreach’s existing ducts (PIA). As part of that they’re being supported by investment from private equity firm Advencap, which is based in Mauritius.

The ISP also seems to be led by an experienced team. Giorgio Iovino (CEO) and Ian Kock (COO) were both early-stage investors and members of the team that started Vumatel, a pioneer of FTTP in South Africa. They are joined by Steve Glendinning, as their CTO, who co-founded Warwicknet that later sold to Glide.

The good news is that we now have some solid details about their rollout plan. In fact, their network has already started to go live in the village of Cottingley, and will then rollout to a further 50,000 premises (homes and businesses) across Keighley and Bingley in West Yorkshire – all three areas are just outside of Bradford and the first services will go live by the end of July.

Local schools in the area will benefit from being offered free connectivity, while residential customers will also be able to try their top 1Gbps (1000Mbps) service, for free and without obligation, for the first 6 months of service (after this you simply choose the package you want).

Giorgio Iovino, Brsk founder and CEO, said:

“People should have the right to try before they buy. Brsk should be measured on what we do, not what we say. That is why we are inviting everyone to use the service for 6 months for free. Everyone deserves the right to at least try world-class broadband.

I have seen first hand how gigabit broadband can create opportunities for people, even more so in a pandemic environment. The fact that the UK lags the rest of Europe in broadband rankings during this time means we need to act fast. We are looking forward to using our experience in scaling full fibre networks to get Britain ahead.”

Robbie Moore, Local MP for Keighley, said:

“The Keighley constituency has been under-served by high-street broadband operators for some time now, and it’s clear in this new era of home working that fast Internet connectivity is vital in supporting our community to secure flexible and competitive jobs. As part of my plan to bring ultrafast broadband to Keighley, I look forward to working closely with brsk to see that Keighley gets the great service it deserves and needs as we build back better from the Covid pandemic.”

Brsk said they’ll aim to upgrade broadband infrastructure to full fibre in “UK towns that have been ignored by other broadband providers,” although it’s worth noting that Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable network is already present across most of their initial deployment patch and Hyperoptic also reach into the odd MDU building in Bingley. But that should still leave enough competitive space for brsk to grow.

Customers can expect a “no contract” (1-month term) service with prices starting from £33 per month for an unlimited 100Mbps symmetric speed package with a free installation and included router, which rises to £49 for their top 900Mbps package. Various add-ons are also available at an extra cost, such as a mesh WiFi solution, VoIP phone and static IP address (the prices for these are unclear). The phone service is not yet live.