ISP Zzoomm Extend FTTP Broadband into More Berkshire Towns

UK ISP Zzoomm has today confirmed that their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network will next be expanded into the Berkshire (England) towns of Sandhurst and Crowthorne. The rollout is expected to cover 10,500 homes and businesses in the two locations.

The operator, which is backed by an “initial” investment of £100m from Oaktree Capital Management (here), currently has several active deployments in various semi-rural towns and parishes across parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, North Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire (e.g. Henley-on-Thames, Hereford, Ascot, Cannock, Thirsk and Crewe).

Construction on the latest additions to this list in Berkshire – Sandhurst and Crowthorne – will begin in August 2021 and should eventually reach over 10,500 premises. The rollout is set to provide career opportunities for more than 40 people in the civils, construction and administration sectors. Zzoomm are also championing a diverse workforce for the build and are keen to attract younger individuals, BAME and female engineers.

Residential customers can expect to pay from £29 per month for a 100Mbps package and that goes up to £99 if you want their top 2Gbps tier, which also happens to be one of the fastest home packages available.

Matthew Hare, Zzoomm’s CEO, said:

“The construction of our brilliant fast network in Sandhurst and Crowthorne is a watershed moment for homes and businesses in towns traditionally left behind by traditional providers. For the first time, homes and businesses in the area will have a choice of network. And what a choice: brilliant Full Fibre for fast, reliable broadband at home and at work. We cannot wait to bring our Zzoomm service to the residents and business owners here who have had to endure slow and unreliable connections and questionable customer service for too long.

Lockdown has accelerated the move to more flexible working arrangements. It has boosted our demand for online entertainment and distance learning. Zzoomm’s new Full Fibre network delivers for residents and businesses. Our network will help catapult Sandhurst and Crowthorne into the forefront of the best-connected towns in Berkshire, the UK and the world.”

In terms of local competition via rival gigabit-capable broadband networks, Crowthorne is already partly covered by Virgin Media’s network, and you can also find some patches of FTTP from OFNL and Openreach. As for Sandhurst, you’ll find some patches from Openreach and Virgin Media, but no significant wide area coverage.. yet. But we do note that Crowthorne is present on Openreach’s FTTP rollout plan.