List of 35 Areas to Benefit from Axione UK’s FTTP Broadband Rollout

At the start of this year we reported (here) that Axione UK – a subsidiary of French provider Axione – had started a £300m project to build a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to 4 million premises for ISPs to sell on to homes (open-access). We now have a fuller list of their rollout areas, in Scotland.

The operator, which is targetting both sub-urban and rural areas, initially began by building around the seaside town of St. Andrews in Fife (Scotland) – partly by running their fibre optic cables via Openreach’s existing cable ducts and poles (Physical Infrastructure Access).

In April 2022 this was followed by a small update on their website, which revealed that they intended to build across the Lanarkshire towns of Stonehouse, Strathaven and Shotts. In Shotts alone, Axione said they were planning to deploy 11 street cabinets and over 55km of fibre optic cable through existing underground ducts and overhead poles.

However, we’ve not had any major progress updates on this deployment since then, and it’s unclear how many premises they’ve actually covered or which UK ISPs will offer their packages to consumers. But a number of our readers (special credit to Dave) have spotted activity in various other parts of Scotland too, and Axione has further elaborated via a new list of sites on their website.

According to the latest information, the following 35 towns and villages will see services becoming available progressively between now and the first half of 2023.

Axione UK’s 35 Full Fibre Rollout Locations (Sept 2022)

North Lanarkshire

Shotts, including Stane and Torbothie – In build

South Lanarkshire

Ashgill – In build
Kirkmuirhill – In build
Law – In build
Lesmahagow – In build
Stonehouse – Live
Strathaven – In build

Fife

Blairhall – Planned
Caimeyhill – Planned
Carnock – Planned
Comrie – Planned
Culross – Planned
Cupar – In build
Gowkhall – Planned
Newburgh – Planned
Newport-on-Tay & Tayport – In build
Oakley – Planned
Saline and Steelend – Planned
St Andrews – In build
Torryburn – Planned
Valleyfield – Planned

Perth and Kinross

Abernethy – Planned
Bridge of Earn – Planned
Kinross – Planned

Inverclyde

Inverkip – Planned
Weymiss Bay – Planned (we think they mean Wemyss Bay)

North Ayrshire

Dalry – Planned
Fairlie – Planned
Kilwinning – Planned
Largs – Planned
Skermorlie – Planned
West Kilbride – Planned

Argyll and Bute

Helensburgh – In build

The fact that Scotland remains such a big focus for their initial rollout is not a major surprise. Axione had previously expressed a serious interest in Scotland’s R100 procurement, but that contract ultimately went to BT. The operator also secured a Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) contract in Aberdeenshire a few years ago, albeit initially only to help connect public sector sites.

Nevertheless, it would be good if Axione UK could put a bit more effort into actually communicating the work they’re doing. We normally see a lot more activity on the promotional side from those investing such significant sums, but in this case we nearly forgot that Axione’s project even existed. Consumers always like to know what will be available, where and when.