Full fibre broadband ISP Trooli, which aims to cover 1 million premises with their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by the end of 2024 (mostly across Kent, East Sussex, Berkshire and Suffolk), has upgraded their base in Kings Hill (Kent) to some significantly larger premises.
At present the alternative network (AltNet) provider, which employs 170 staff (up from 114 at the start of 2021), has already built their network to cover 100,000 premises, and they aim to reach 170,000 by the end of 2021. After that, the operator intends to reach 400,000 premises in December 2022 (across c.300 towns and villages) and then 1 million by the end of 2024.
The operator originally started life with €30m in backing from the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF) and £5m from NatWest, although this was recently boosted by a new £67.5m debt facility agreement (here) to help fund their expansion.
The rapid growth of their network is also expected to see staff numbers grow to around 300 next year, and as a result they need more space. The solution has been to take out 11,300 sq ft of office space in the newly refurbished 18 Kings Hill Avenue building, which is a single-storey office flex building (see picture) providing self-contained space with dedicated entrances and adjacent car parking, including EV charging points.
Andy Conibere, Trooli’s CEO, said:
“As well as offering great quality office accommodation, an attractive environment and excellent transport links, Kings Hill feels very much like home to us. It was in this area that our ultrafast network first went live, many of our team live locally and we are proud sponsors of Kings Hill Football Club.
We are committed to this flourishing community and passionate about providing opportunities to local people to be part of our growth.”
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).
They appear to be rolling out at a fair rate of knots in Kent at the moment. Great to see.
Yes, but not really into the smaller and more rural locations.
Think that BT Global Services used to be in that building
yep probably was NOC (network Operations centre)