ISP Giganet Adopts 1-Month Contracts for UK FTTP Broadband

UK ISP Giganet (M12 Solutions) has today announced that they’re moving to adopt short 30-day contract terms on their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband services, although this only applies to those they either build themselves or sell via CityFibre’s national UK network (i.e. Openreach based products aren’t covered).

At present the provider, which is supported by an investment of £250m from Fern Trading, is in the process of building their own full fibre network to cover 300,000 premises across poorly served parts of Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex (here). On top of that, they’re also providing similar services across a total of 27 CityFibre locations in the South of England, following a successful rollout in Portsmouth.

The change means that all new contracts in Giganet’s current and future CityFibre cities will have the same generous terms as their own new build network areas. The provider sees this as showing confidence in their products (i.e. once customers have experienced it, “they will not have any desire to switch“).

Jarlath Finnegan, Giganet CEO, said:

“Earlier this month we announced that contracts on our own build would be monthly rolling after our ‘try before you buy’ offer’ and we want to bring these great terms to as many customers in other areas as possible. We are confident that our offering, speeds and service will keep customers loyal, without the need for lengthy contracts. We are a locally engaged provider and keen to prove we are the best option for full fibre. Monthly contracts ensure we remain focused on what is best for our customers.”

One of the problems with shorter contract terms has tended to be that they make the service more expensive to buy, although with prices for 500Mbps (symmetric) starting at just £37 per month or £40 for 900Mbps, it looks like that aspect isn’t such a problem for Giganet’s packages. At the time of writing we are still waiting to see how much Giganet’s own-build network areas will cost.