Rival Fibre ISPs Gigaclear and Swish Fibre Both Go Live in Thame

Smaller UK alternative network ISPs are increasingly starting to butt heads in some of the same areas. The latest example comes from the small market town of Thame in Oxfordshire (England), where Swish Fibre and Gigaclear have both started to go live with a new full fibre broadband network, within days of each other.

Both providers began to physically rollout their respective Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks in Thame earlier this year, with Gigaclear committing to cover 6,185 premises by early 2022 (Thame is home to a local population of around 12,000). Prior to that, Airband had already deployed some FTTP across the same town (here) and Openreach expect to follow in the not-too-distant future.

The situation is excellent news for locals, many of which will soon be able to enjoy a choice of four gigabit-capable broadband networks. But it does raise a question mark over the long-term viability of having that many full fibre networks inside such a small community, which is a picture that we’re starting to see replicated in other towns around the UK. This tends to push up the investment risk for those who hold the purse strings.

The Government’s original Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR) suggested that dense urban areas (e.g. cities) should be able to support three or more gigabit rivals, but extending that model to smaller towns is quite a stretch. Two networks is a possibility, but four.. only time will tell how that pans out. A wave of consolidation is often expected from all this, but as an asset even fibre may lose some of its value in such areas.

Nick Rawlings, Chief Marketing Officer at Gigaclear, said:

“We’re delighted to have connected our first customer in Thame to our ultrafast broadband. Having already welcomed customers in Haddenham, it’s great to see that we can now welcome even more customers to our network in Thame.”

Alistair Goulden, Swish Fibre co-Founder and Oxfordshire Resident, said:

“As a resident of Watlington in South Oxfordshire for over 20 years, I’m particularly delighted to be bringing our future-proofed 10,000Mbps capable Full Fibre Broadband to Thame and also Chinnor in the not too distant future.

Whenever we go live in a new town it’s always so special but there is an extra bit of magic in this one for me. My children went to Lord Williams School in Thame and as a family we’re very much immersed in the community. Full Fibre is an enabler and it’s an honour for all at Swish to continue to drive both social and economic growth in towns that have been previously thought to be left behind.”

In terms of prices, we’ll look at the top 1Gbps class package from each provider. At present, Gigaclear sells 900Mbps (symmetric) for £79 per month – currently discounted to £49 for the first 18-month term – and gives free installation. By comparison, Swish charges £75 per month and a £50 one-off activation fee for the same service. Airband has a similar price of £75 for the tier, albeit with slower uploads of 200Mbps and free installation.