Trooli to Run Gigabit Fibre Over Low Voltage Electricity Poles

Broadband ISP Trooli, which is building a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of South and South East England, has signed one of the first long-term Joint User Pole (JUP) agreements with UK Power Networks. The move will enable them to run their fibre optic cables across certain low voltage electricity poles.

Just to recap. Trooli has already built their network to cover 100,000 premises (homes and businesses) and they’ve previously set a goal of reaching 170,000 premises by the end of 2021, which will be followed by 400,000 premises in December 2022 (across c.300 towns and villages) and then 1 million premises by the end of 2024. Last month they were also given a £67.5m investment boost (here), albeit via a debt facility.

At present electricity poles are already being used fairly extensively throughout England to carry broadband cables, albeit very carefully due to the obvious safety issues and the related need for additional training, as well as the requirement for close coordination between two different operators.

However, the government has been pushing for more progress on this front (here), which is where Trooli’s new JUP agreement with UKPN may come in handy. UKPN currently owns and maintains electricity cables and lines across London, the South East and East of England.

The new agreement thus gives Trooli access to the low voltage overhead pole network across UKPNs’ East and South East England operating areas, enabling them to reach “thousands more premises in its network areas.”

Brian O’Neill, Trooli’s Operations Director, said:

“With this JUP agreement, we can access an extra 4,000 premises in our existing areas that were previously out of our reach. This additional volume will only expand as our network increases in size.”

The provider’s broadband packages typically cost from £50 inc. VAT per month for an unlimited 300Mbps (100Mbps upload) service (currently discounted to £35) with free standard installation, and this rises to £80 for 900Mbps+ (300Mbps upload). The gigabit package may be more expensive than some rival gigabit plans, but this largely reflects the higher build costs of tackling rural / semi-rural towns and villages.