Altnet ISP Lightning Fibre Refreshes UK Broadband Plans and Prices

Eastbourne-based alternative network operator and UK ISP Lightning Fibre, which is building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Sussex and Kent in England, has today announced a package refresh for the New Year that delivers some speed boosts and pricing changes.

In terms of what’s changing. The entry level package has been doubled from 150Mbps (symmetric) to 300Mbps for £28 per month to pitch the company head-to-head with its mainstream competitors (i.e. Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and EE), who are charging £28 for a 150Mbps package. The company has also recently reduced its 2Gbps package from £99 per month to £59 per month (a £100 one off set up fee applies).

Furthermore, a price match is now in place for any valid full fibre broadband offer (new customers only), which means the local AltNet pledges they “won’t be beaten on price by any operator”. The company has also decided against introducing annual, mid-contract price rises, unlike the majority of its larger competitors who increase prices each April.

In a self-run survey of its customers (date and sample size unknown), Lightning Fibre claims 86% said their prices were now “about right“.

Rob Reaks, CCO of Lightning Fibre, said:

“We do review things from time to time, but it’s clear that annual mid term price rises are very unpopular with consumers, and often cited as a reason why people switch from a mainstream ISP to us. In a Lightning Fibre survey, 59.8% said that annual price rises are ‘unfair’. So, we’re sticking to the fair, transparent pricing we’ve used since our launch in 2018.”

The alternative network, which has built to a number of locations like Eastbourne, Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Lancing, Hastings and St Leonards, Heathfield, Hellingly and Broad Oak, Hailsham and Polegate, originally planned to cover 140,000 premises with their gigabit-capable network. But it remains unclear how many premises they’ve reached, and they’ve since had to slow their network build due to various challenges (here and here).