Gigaclear Extends UK FTTP Broadband Rollout to Rural Sussex

Alternative network and UK ISP Gigaclear, which has already built a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to 420,000 premises in rural areas (across 24 counties), has today announced that they’re investing £9m to expand their roll-out into rural parts of Sussex in England.

The initially limited deployment will start by working to cover more than 2,000 homes and businesses in the two villages of Peasmarsh and Northiam, although a further 6 communities are also said to be in the “planning stage” for future expansion.

The rollout forms part of the Infracapital-backed provider’s wider investment strategy, which is estimated to be worth up to around £1.1bn (here) – this aims to help expand the coverage of their full fibre network to “over” 1 million premises by 2027. But prior to that they’re expecting to reach 500,000 properties at some point in 2024.

Residential customers of the service typically pay from £17 a month (£40 after 18-months) for a symmetric 200Mbps broadband package on an 18-month term, and this rises to £34 (£79 after 18-months) for their top 830Mbps plan. All packages include a wireless router and free installation.

Jonathan Divito, Senior Project Manager, said:

“We’re making great strides in extending the Gigaclear network to rural communities across the south-east and our move into Sussex is just one example of this. The next 18 months will see us increase our activity significantly across the region.

Unlike many other broadband providers who compete to offer their services in dense, urban areas, we’re focussing on harder-to-reach communities that are far less likely to have a choice of supplier.

Having access to fast and reliable broadband speeds is not something people automatically associate with living in rural areas. This is because, on average, those living in towns and cities enjoy much faster speeds than residents in rural locations – and Ofcom data shows this divide is growing.

Our mission is to address this gap and bring full fibre faster speeds to residents in rural villages and towns so they’re able to work from home, stream online entertainment, scroll and gameplay just like everyone else.”

The announcement mentioned that Gigaclear’s network currently “stretches across southern and central England reaching more than 420,000 properties“, although confusingly this is a lower figure than their June 2022 statement, which said that their network “serves more than 450,000 homes across 23 counties“. But we’ve been informed that this is a mistake and 450k remains the correct figure.