Houghton Le Spring (Sunderland)-based telecoms and IT provider Affinity Systems Limited (Rymote) has revealed tentative plans to expand a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to “serve people and businesses” in rural areas in the North East of England.
The development was spotted after Affinity put in an application for Code Powers from Ofcom, which is often requested as part of efforts to help speed-up deployments of new fibre optic infrastructure and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licenses needed for street works. It can also help facilitate access to run fibre through Openreach’s existing ducts and poles (PIA).
The company (no. 07392199) has actually existed since 2010 and claims to have already built some FTTP infrastructure in the North East of England, although we initially struggled to find any sign of a website that matched their details. But after a bit of digging, we eventually matched their company number to an ISP with the name of Rymote (seemingly a play on the word ‘remote’), which is also registered as a separate company (details).
Rymote appears to be focused on harnessing the UK Government’s Gigabit Voucher scheme in order to build FTTP in rural communities. Packages tend to start at £25 per month for an unlimited 75Mbps service, then £32 for 150Mbps and £40 for their top residential tier of 300Mbps. All come with a free installation (“non-standard” installations cost £250) and an included router on a 12-month minimum term.
The website doesn’t give much away, but it looks like they have already deployed a tiny bit of FTTP to the Dissington Hall estate in Dalton, Northumberland. The website also suggested that they work in Durham too, but there’s precious little detail on their network coverage or future rollout plans. Both Rymote and Affinity have one Director in common – Alastair James Yong. Christelle Yong is separately registered as a Director of Affinity.
@DigitalDurham have been promoting them for months, they are one of several isp’s gathering voucher commitments from villages to provide fttp in County Durham outside of commercial builds and ahead of any future BDUK deployments.