ISP Vfast Connect First Full Fibre Broadband Customer in Medway

Kent-based UK ISP Vfast (Orbital Net) has announced that they’ve finally connected their first customer – Paul from Gillingham – to CityFibre’s new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in Medway, which follows last year’s announcement (here) of their plan to join the platform.

CityFibre – supported by Vfast and other ISPs – is currently investing £40m to deploy their full fibre infrastructure to reach “almost every home and business” in the conurbation and unitary authority of Medway in Kent (England), which is being supported by civil engineering firm Lanes Infrastructure.

The good news is that “thousands of properties” are now ready for service (RFS) in the area, and they are accepting orders at a rapid pace. A brand awareness campaign is going live across the area to support the roll-out and create awareness of the new service. No doubt this will complement the operator’s plan to build its own FTTP network in rural parts of Kent and Sussex (here).

Prices start at £35 per month for a 200Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 24-month term (12-month terms are also available at extra cost), which includes a free installation (inc. router) and rises to £45 for their top 900Mbps tier. Plus, there are hints that they may even launch a cheaper ‘social‘ style tariff next month.

Ben Doherty, CTO of Vfast, said

“Internet is becoming a utility, it is absolutely essential as part of people’s daily lives. Vfast are working to accelerate the Full Fibre roll out across the UK by partnering with infrastructure providers like CityFibre. We also have our own Fibre roll out starting in rural areas within Kent. Unreliable and inconsistent internet connections are not sustainable, we need to future proof homes with the best connectivity available and that is a Full Fibre service.”

The new underlying network reflects CityFibre’s ongoing investment of £4.9bn to rollout their FTTP network across a big chunk of the United Kingdom. The work has so far enabled them to cover 1.7 million UK premises – with 1.5m ‘Ready For Service‘ via a supporting ISP (here). The aim is to cover up to 8 million premises – across around 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK) – by the end of 2025 (here). But they also aspire to reach into rural areas via Project Gigabit (here).