County Broadband Finally Starts FTTP Build to 9 Suffolk Villages

Rural UK ISP County Broadband, which aspires to cover 500,000 premises across the East of England with their new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by the end of 2027, has today confirmed that they’ve started to build across 9 more villages in Suffolk – supported by contractors AB Installs and Highway Workforce.

The provider, which is being supported by £146 million of funding from Aviva Investors (here), is currently deploying full fibre across rural parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in England (i.e. they’re building to over 220 villages and rising).

The nine villages set to benefit from the latest work in Suffolk include Bentley, Brantham, Capel St. Mary, Copdock, Washbrook, Layham, Nayland-with-Wissington, Raydon, and Stratford St. Mary. Most of these locations were first added to CB’s rollout plan all the way back in 2021 (here), but better late than never.

James Salmon, CB’s Director of Sales and New Territories, said:

“We’re pleased to be kicking off construction of our new full fibre networks across these nine Suffolk villages. It’s clear from the homes and businesses we speak to that the existing copper-based infrastructure simply can’t keep up with modern demands from remote working, and streaming to accessing online services.

Building these networks is a complex process which takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why it’s essential we start future-proofing communities today to ensure they aren’t left behind over the coming years as the way we live and work continues to evolve.

In the recent Budget the government emphasised the need to deliver long term, sustainable economic growth. To achieve this, we must have the underlying digital infrastructure in place. That’s why we’ve set out ambitious plans for the East of England to put the region on the best footing for continued growth and investment.”

Customers typically pay from £33.99 per month (reduced from £40.99) for an unlimited symmetric speed 100Mbps service with a bundled wireless router on a 24-month term, which rises to £69.99 for 900Mbps (reduced from £79.99). Not the cheapest, but some of that is a reflecting the rural nature of their build, although it may disadvantage them in locations where cheaper rivals are also set to deploy FTTP.