Truespeed Connect 150th Community Hub to Free Broadband for Life

Bath-based broadband ISP Truespeed, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of South West England, has today revealed that they’ve covered 70,000 premises and just connected their 150th community organisation – for free – as part of their ongoing rollout.

The operator, which holds an “ambitious” target to reach 500,000 properties by the end of 2026 (mostly across Devon and Somerset), is currently being funded by a £175 million investment from Aviva and – like a number of other alternative network providers – they will often also connect local schools or community hubs (at no extra cost) as part of their deployments.

Since the build began, around 8 years ago, Truespeed has managed to deliver free full fibre broadband connectivity to 150 community organisations (i.e. 40 schools and 110 community hubs). St Benedict’s Junior School in Glastonbury just become the latest recipient of their related “free broadband for life” promise.

The latest announcement also reveals that the operator’s FTTP network now covers 70,000 homes and businesses (up from 60,000 premises in January 2023) – just for comparison, they added 25,000 premises during the whole of 2022. The operator is also known to have 15,000 customers on this network (21.43% take-up), which is up from 13,000 in February 2023.

James Lowther, CEO of Truespeed, said:

“At Truespeed, we believe everyone should have access to reliable, ultrafast broadband. When we invest in an area, by putting our infrastructure in the ground, we have the opportunity to offer our service to as many people as possible, so the community can reap the rewards of better connectivity.

By offering free broadband for life to schools and community venues, we extend the benefits of ultrafast connectivity to those who may not be able to afford broadband or computing services at home. This then frees up budget lines for recipient schools and organisations, like St Benedict’s, to reinvest that dividend elsewhere.”

Truespeed’s next coverage target is to reach around 120,000 premises passed (footprint) and around 26,000 customers by the end of 2023, but they’ll need to build a lot faster to hit that. Residential customers of the service typically pay from £25 per month on a 12-month term (£40 thereafter) for their entry-level 150Mbps package, which includes installation and a wireless router. This rises to £49 for their top 900Mbps tier (£70 thereafter), which adds a Linksys Wi-Fi 6 router.