Gigaclear Makes Progress on Cotswolds Project Gigabit Broadband Build
Rural broadband ISP Gigaclear, which has so far deployed their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 612,000 UK premises (inc. 160,000 customers), has just put their new network live in the Cotswolds village of Kemble. The deployment forms part of Project Gigabit’s £10.81m East Gloucestershire (Lot 18) contract to upgrade 3,547 premises in hard-to-reach areas.
The original contract was first awarded all the way back in February 2024 (here) and was initially valued at £16.6m (state aid), with a goal of extending gigabit-capable broadband to an additional 4,400 premises in remote rural areas. But this shrank in size during August 2025 “due to [the] removal of 899 premises” from its scope (here) and the construction phase then didn’t start until October 2025 (here).
However, today’s announcement seems to slightly contradict the October 2025 news, by stating that work began “earlier this year” across the 18 rural areas in the county, including Kemble, with the first homes and businesses now able to benefit from Gigaclear’s ultrafast service. Residents and businesses can now access speeds of up to 900Mbps.
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The other locations set to benefit include Alderton, Andoversford, Aston Somerville, Brockhampton, Cold Aston, Coln St Aldwyns, Great Rissington, Hawling, Lower Slaughter, Miserden, North Cerney, Quenington, Stanton, Tarlton, Teddington, Upper Slaughter and Woodmancote.
Telecoms Minister, Liz Lloyd, said:
“Connecting the first customer in Kemble to lightning fast broadband is a fantastic milestone for Project Gigabit’s rollout in Gloucestershire.
Reliable, fast broadband transforms lives, supporting local businesses to grow, and opening up new opportunities in our rural communities. I look forward to seeing many more homes and businesses across Gloucestershire benefit from this investment.”
Nathan Rundle, Chief Executive Officer at Gigaclear, said:
“Connecting the first customer in Kemble is a great achievement and one that will help close the gap further for the digital divide in rural Gloucestershire. Kemble is one of many villages that has historically been overlooked when it comes to broadband investment, leaving residents with services that simply haven’t kept pace with modern life.
Our Project Gigabit build is changing that. By delivering reliable, ultrafast full fibre where it has previously been absent, we’re enabling people to work from home, commute less and spend more time with family and friends. This in turn means they are more present in their communities which positively supports local businesses. We’re delighted to see the first premises go live and look forward to connecting many more as the rollout continues.”
The original contract indicated that Gigaclear’s roll-out is expected to reach completion by Spring 2027, although it’s unclear if this target still stands.
Residential customers of the service currently pay from £17 a month (£43.50 after 18-months) for a symmetric 200Mbps broadband package and speeds go up to 900Mbps.
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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Great to see, Gigaclear are pushing ahead with their FTTP network. After the less than encouraging news that it’s institutional shareholders had taken control of day to day affairs. Lets hope they are in it for the long haul. So much Public money has been invested in Hard to reach area schemes. It would be a serious shame if the company were not allowed to, continue it’s work in these left behind areas…
If they provide in that area as they did in my home village then all they provide is to the village(s) centres and forget about the out of village ‘core’ houses and other premises (farns, small industrial estates).
Gigaclear has been “coming soon!” for 10–13 years in my friend’s not-at-all rural Hertfordshire village.
After a few years of “honestly, real soon now!” fanfare from Gigaclear, Openreach FTTC quietly appeared for half the village, and Gigaclear suddenly lost all confidence that its own technically far superior and cheaper product was ever going to sell. This didn’t stop Gigaclear from claiming it was still being planned.
A couple of months ago, Openreach has been putting the finishing touches on upgrading everyone to FTTP bar some direct-in-ground premises.
I suspect the DIG premises will be in the scope of the 5 million they are planning to do between the end of this year and 2030 (assuming they go ahead). Makes sense for them to grab the maximum amount of low hanging fruit first and come back to the harder stuff later.
Same in Dankshire Town. One lot promised to have it done over two years ago, pulled out. Next lot came in, got halfway, stopped. Meanwhile Openreach came , stared the job, five months later I am on fibre, as are ten or so in my street. Luckily the council were not involved this time as they made a cods of it with fttc.