ISP County Broadband Finally Starts FTTP Rollout in Sudbury

Alternative UK network provider County Broadband has today confirmed that they’ve finally started to build their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the Suffolk market town of Sudbury, which is home to a population of around 13,000.

The provider, which is being fuelled by an investment of £46 million from Aviva Investors, first announced their plans for Sudbury almost a year ago (here). At the time they stated that the work would be completed by Spring 2022, although today’s update talks of it being an “18-month infrastructure project” that “began earlier this month.”

In total, 75% of Sudbury’s approximate 8,000 homes, businesses and community venues are earmarked for the rollout, including the Grade II listed Sudbury Town Hall in Gaol Street and St Peter’s Cultural Venue based within the former medieval church in Market Hill.

The town’s build appears to be part of a demand-led project (i.e. CB may have only been able to proceed once enough locals had expressed an interest).

James Salmon, CB’s Director of Sales and New Territories, said:

“We are very excited to confirm that our plans to build and deliver world-class digital infrastructure in Sudbury are going ahead at such a pivotal time. The region needs to bounce back strongly from the pandemic and future-ready infrastructure such as full-fibre broadband will turbocharge productivity and deliver vital new services for residents.

Thousands of families and individuals, many of whom are remote working, plus a whole host of businesses who want to innovate will benefit from lightning-fast gigabit speeds and bullet-proof reliability once we’ve completed our long-term infrastructure project in Sudbury.

The pandemic has emphasised the harsh reality that Superfast broadband supplied over copper cables is now reaching its limit. Speeds might just about be ok for now – but they won’t be fit for purpose over the coming months and years.

We’ve seen rapidly growing demand in Sudbury to get full-fibre broadband infrastructure built after launching our proposals in late 2020, at both our regular market stalls and online community events.

However, installing new full-fibre broadband infrastructure at this scale is a complex task and has many challenges. It requires significant planning, resources and time. It involves the coordination of highways, landowners, civils works and advanced fibre optic engineering. So we therefore ask for support, patience and understanding from the Sudbury community as we get to work.”

Prices for their service may vary between areas, but in most cases new customers will typically pay from £28 per month (excluding discounts) for an unlimited symmetric speed 50Mbps service with a bundled wireless router and free installation, then £40 for 150Mbps, £48 for 300Mbps, £55 for 600Mbps and £80 for 900Mbps.