Freedom Fibre Add 10 Cheshire Locations to FTTP Broadband Build
Fibre optic network builder Freedom Fibre, which is being supported by UK ISP TalkTalk and is currently rolling out a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across semi-rural parts of North England, has today added 10 new towns and villages in Cheshire to their rollout plan.
The operator already had some deployments in Cheshire (e.g. Weaverham and Stockton Heath) and today’s announcement will also add the locations of Northwich, Comberbach and Hartford to that list. The extended rollout will also catch some of the surrounding communities, including Pickmere, Wincham, Lostock Gralam, Davenham, Moulton, Great Budworth and Barnton.
At present Freedom Fibre’s network covers around 20,000 premises and they’re currently aiming to reach 70,000 premises by the end of this year, although they’re also known to have a long-term target of providing fibre to over 2 million properties.
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David Hough, Network Operations Director, said:
“Reliable, fast, and economic broadband has quickly become a necessity for everybody. As we have moved into a digitally connected world, broadband is now considered an essential utility service. Freedom Fibre are deploying a full fibre network that will futureproof connectivity for our customers, using the latest technology to ensure that we can provide the service residents and businesses require.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will see the simplest of household devices requiring fast broadband to operate at their optimum performance, and as we move towards a net-zero society, reliable connectivity is essential in ensuring that devices operate in the most efficient way.”
Residents in the new areas can expect to be able to “connect as early as Autumn 2022” and further areas covered in this build will be announced in the coming weeks.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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If my “IoT fridge” ever needs more than dialup speeds I will have concerns about what data it’s sending… Dialup should be fine!
But who wants to be forced to use TalkTalk as the only possible ISP?
FF is coming to our village but I only see it as an interim solution until Openreach hit the area.
FF are also surveying rural areas of Cheshire where Airband are already active, supported by a ConnectingCheshire grant! No idea how that would work, as I thought Openreach sharing of poles and ducts was with a single operator. I’m assuming the high cost of rural deployments will prevent the absurd sight of two new sets of poles along the same lane, one commercial and the other subsidised…
State aid funded builds usually require operators to deploy ducts and poles that can be harnessed by at least 3 providers, if I recall correctly. But this does depend upon the size of the network being built.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1068899/Gigabit_Infrastructure_Detailed_Overview_v0.6.pdf
Thanks Mark, that makes sense. Hopefully we’ll get a service from somebody!
Northwich is already being serviced by Openreach, Zzoomm and Lightspeed. There will be no pole capacity for Freedom to be able to service customers and when they do eventually get their service live, all the customers would have been swept up by the other ISP’s.