Neos Completes Full Fibre Upgrade Across Perth and Kinross

Neos Networks, which operates a 24,480km+ long fibre network via over 477 related Points of Presence (PoPs) across the UK, has completed its £1.5m state aid supported Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) rollout project in Perth, Scotland, ahead of schedule. As a result, 31 public sector sites can now access gigabit speeds.

The new Dark Fibre style network spans 19.5km and covers many city centre locations, including educational institutions, council buildings, leisure centres and sheltered housing, as well as key public buildings such as Perth fire station and the CCTV monitoring centre. It stretches out to the west of the city, close to the new 3,000-home Perth West housing development.

The deployment was able to harness an existing 10km stretch of council owned cable duct to run its fibre, while in other areas they built new duct or used some of their own existing infrastructure. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, and Neos Networks said they encountered “numerous challenges throughout the project“, including adverse weather and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Issues with existing Council duct infrastructure also emerged. For example, unspecified “technical concerns” identified during early surveys, resulted in a month’s redesign work, which was undertaken in just two weeks. But despite all that, they still completed the project some two months ahead of the scheduled completion date at the end of September 2021.

Peter Asman, Neos MD for Public Sector & Enterprise, said:

“The importance of effective collaboration and constant customer contact has been key to the success of this project. Working in conjunction with Perth & Kinross Council has been outstanding and is a prime example of how public sector bodies and service providers can work in partnership to transform society and secure a gigabit-capable digital future for the community. The joint effort from everybody involved has helped us complete the project on time and to a high standard. We are all very excited to see the benefits that our deployed full fibre connectivity can bring to the region.”

Murray Lyle, Leader of Perth & Kinross Council, added:

“We are delighted with the work that Neos Networks has carried out and fully believe the benefits it brings will transform the city and surrounding communities. The team were not only flexible and adaptable across the many challenges faced, but they also met all our requirements delivering on budget and ahead of schedule, providing our local buildings and community with the connectivity they need.”

The new network may be intended to help serve public sector sites, but it could also provide a useful foundation for future commercial investment by broadband ISPs (e.g. Openreach, CityFibre etc.), which may be seeking to extend their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks into local homes and businesses.