FullFibre Ltd List 19 New Towns in England for FTTP Broadband

Network builder FullFibre Limited has today named the next batch of 19 towns in England to benefit from their rollout of a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network, which recently hit a build rate of 15,000 UK premises per month and aims to cover “at least” 500,000 premises by 2025.

The operator, which runs its network as a wholesale platform via Fibre Heroes for other UK ISPs to harness (i.e. consumers should visit that site to check for coverage), initially started their rollout in Leominster (Fastershire project), Ivybridge and South Hams during 2019. But in March 2021 they unveiled deployments for 11 additional UK towns (here) and then a further 13 in September 2021 (here).

By comparison, today’s announcement adds a further 19 towns. As a result, the operator are now building to over 320,000 premises across 10 English counties. One of the biggest additions this time around is Evesham in Worcestershire, which will see almost 22,000 premises being put within reach of FTTP and work is due to begin in November 2021.

Not only will “100% of the premises in Evesham” be provided with the opportunity to access a gigabit capable FTTP connection, but the same connectivity will also be extended to the surrounding communities of Broadway, Honeybourne, Badsey, Bretforton, Offenham and the Littletons.

The 19 New Towns
Evesham, Malvern, Pershore, Cookley and Wychbold (Worcestershire)
Alcester & Bidford on Avon (Warwickshire)
Bourton on the Water and Newent (Gloucestershire)
Bromyard (Herefordshire)
Kinver (Staffordshire)
Bridgnorth, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Broseley, St Martins, Weston Rhyn and Whittington (Shropshire)

Many of these deployments will, from start to finish, take around 12-months to complete in order to reach the majority of premises, but some areas may need longer.

Oliver Helm, CEO of FullFibre Ltd, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“Our focus on building high quality fibre networks at pace means we are expanding at one of the quickest rates in the industry. This latest investment from our board pays testament to the progress we have made within our two initial regions. Our build teams comprised of a mix of highly committed direct labour and quality local sub-contractors have made huge strides in recent months and this has given us the ability to commit to more towns and offering a full fibre future to places that would otherwise be left behind.”

The operator tends to focus on “reaching areas that have been left wanting from previous internet infrastructure builds“, across locations spanning between 1,000 and 40,000 premises. However, it should be said that some of the towns they’re targeting may have already been reached, or are due to be reached, by gigabit-capable networks from rivals (e.g. Openreach, Virgin Media etc.).

Nevertheless, FullFibre Limited have built themselves into a truly credibly alternative network and are now starting to build at quite an impressive pace. As a result they join a growing club of AltNets (e.g. CityFibre, Trooli, G.Network, Gigaclear, B4RN, CommunityFibre, Hyperoptic and many more) that are beginning to stamp their own mark on the UK fibre market and are managing to rise above smaller scale operations.