Some Customers of Broadband Altnet Gigability Suffer Service Suspension

Alternative UK broadband network and ISP Gigability, which first cropped up in 2024 (here and here) with plans to build a full fibre network across rural villages in Shropshire (England), appears to have run into a problem on part of their network after a couple of their customers in the medieval market town of Much Wenlock indicated they’d been given one month’s notice of service closure.

The provider is currently only known to have conducted a limited roll-out across Much Wenlock, but they did originally aspire to reach 18,000 premises across communities such as Ackleton, Badger, Beckbury, Chelmarsh, Chesterton, Claverley, Eardington, Hampton Loade, Hilton, Ludstone, Much Wenlock, Stableford, Sutton, Worfield and Wyken. All of that was due to be funded by a mix of private investment and gigabit vouchers from BDUK.

Despite this, we haven’t seen any further progress updates since 2024 and management of the business appeared to change hands a couple of years ago. The most recent company accounts to the end of 2024, which only provide a little bit of information, show that Gigability had net liabilities of -£105,719. The average number of persons employed by the company (including the director) during the period was also reported to be 1.

Over the past couple of years’ we’ve since seen Openreach deploying their full fibre (FTTP) broadband network across Much Wenlock and the wider area, while Airband have deployed some of their own infrastructure across part of the same area. Suffice to say that the local area has become a lot more competitive than it was just a couple of years ago, when only slow copper lines existed.

However, ISPreview’s industry sources recently reported that a “handful” of people from Much Wenlock had suddenly tried to switch away from Gigability, apparently after being given 30-days’ notice that their service was going to be pulled. We have attempted to contact Gigability several times for clarification over the past couple of weeks and received no response.

After a bit more digging we noted that a support number on the provider’s website (01282 214000), which can be found inside their T&Cs, is the same one as used by UK ISP Opus Broadband (formerly 6G Internet – linked to IX Wireless). On top of that, Gigability’s Acceptable Use Policy also makes reference to “IX Wireless Limited“.

One of the company’s investors has since informed us that Gigability’s network roll-out was put on “hold” about two years ago and Opus started sharing responsibility for support. As for the disconnections, apparently only two customers have been asked to move from a location where the provider needs to exit due to some unspecified works outside of their control.

Quite what the future plans are for this tiny full fibre network remain unclear and we still don’t know its overall coverage or take-up levels.