Broadband ISP Grain Extends UK Full Fibre Network into Ashington
Alternative network operator Grain (Grain Connect) has announced that they’re expanding their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network into the town of Ashington in Northumberland (England). The operator’s network currently reaches 220,000 UK premises RFS (21st May 2024) and has already connected 30,000 customers.
The local roll-out in the town, which ultimately aims to reach “thousands of homes” (we don’t get anything more specific than that), is currently entering the construction phase. After that, the “first customers” are then due to be connected sometime during “early 2025“, although it’s unclear how long the build itself will take to reach completion.
Grain’s decision to expand into Ashington is not totally unexpected, as they already have a limited deployment in nearby Blyth. On the other hand, the altnet will face some competition, not least from the well-established and wide coverage of existing gigabit-capable broadband networks via Openreach and Virgin Media (nexfibre). Some smaller providers, like Fibrenest, also have a very limited presence in the town.
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Richard Cameron, Grain’s CEO, said:
“We’re not just delivering faster internet; we are also saving customers a significant amount on their monthly broadband bill. Whether you’re streaming your favourite shows, working from home or gaming, we’re helping to build a more connected Ashington.”
The ISP is celebrating this expansion with some exclusive offers for early birds in the town. Locals will be able to sign up for their 150Mbps package this November for just £19.99 per month, with the first 3 months of service being offered at half price (£9.99). Customers will also get free installation.
The operator’s full fibre network can also be found in parts of 59 other UK locations (plus over 150 new build housing developments), which includes a lot of small-to-modest sized patches of various urban cities and towns like Leicester, Liverpool, Accrington, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Scarborough, Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Hartlepool, Hull, Newport, Sunderland, Blackburn and so forth.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Openreach and VM went live in the town around a year ago for most parts of it, so anyone interested in FTTP is likely still in a contract.
Grain have been out knocking on doors in the area they are due to build (build starts next week).
My specific area is fed by overhead poles (Openreach/VM) so it’ll be interesting if Grain’s underground approach is a selling feature – it will mean broadband comes into the front of people’s home rather than the back.
Once it’s available that’ll mean I’ve gone from no gigabit options to 3 in the space of 18 months.
That’s what happened here, CF via pole rear or grain which comes in via front duct which is why I’m with grain