{"id":33984,"date":"2023-03-17T09:31:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T09:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=33984"},"modified":"2023-03-17T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T09:33:45","slug":"video-airband-tackles-most-challenging-fttp-broadband-build-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/03\/video-airband-tackles-most-challenging-fttp-broadband-build-ever.html","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO – Airband Tackles Most Challenging FTTP Broadband Build Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rural broadband ISP Airband<\/a> has announced that they’re currently tackling one of the “most challenging installations<\/em>” of full fibre technology that they’ve “ever seen<\/em>” in the historic North Devon (England) village of Clovelly, which sits perched on a cliff-top, complete with steep, narrow cobbled streets and 300 residents.<\/p>\n

The build appears to form part of the provider’s existing contract with the Connecting Devon and Somerset<\/a> (CDS) programme, which stems from their \u00a325.5m state aid supported Phase 2<\/strong> contract that will see them cover more than 40,000 premises<\/strong> with their full fibre network (here<\/a> and here<\/a>); this is currently expected to complete by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

However, some of the locations they need to tackle can be very difficult, and that’s certainly true of picturesque Clovelly. Originally owned by William the Conqueror, the estate of Clovelly remained in royal hands until 1242. It is now owned by John Rous who inherited it from his mother Mary Rous in 1983.<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP<\/a>) technology into such a location, where there is a need to preserve the environment and maintain the character of the area, is not an easy task. The fibre has had to be run up a steep 1.5km hill and Airband<\/a> has had to carefully lift and correctly replace 12,000 street cobbles.<\/p>\n

Since traditional machines can’t be used here, then they’ve had to use mechanical buckets for removing the spoil, meaning around 500 trips will have been made up and down the hill, totalling a massive 700 hours of work. Did we mention that almost every property is Grade 2 or 2* listed? This means that Airband has to follow strict restrictions to ensure that the historic character of the buildings are maintained.<\/p>\n

Red Peel, Airband MD, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“At Airband we take pride in bringing connectivity to rural areas across the country. We\u2019re especially proud to be working in partnership with the residents of the beautiful village of Clovelly – a truly one-of-a-kind area.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re thrilled to be offering superfast broadband to this area and providing residents and business owners with the many benefits which better connectivity brings, whilst also preserving the unique character of the environment which makes Clovelly so special. I think that this is perhaps the most challenging broadband installation we\u2019ve ever undertaken.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Councillor Rufus Gilbert said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Clovelly is a unique village in Devon and it\u2019s exactly the kind of hard-to-reach area that the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme aims to connect with full fibre broadband. I\u2019m proud that we\u2019re working with Airband to help deliver better broadband to people in Clovelly – they need and deserve faster broadband speeds that are often taken for granted in urban areas. In rolling out full fibre to the entire community, every effort has been made by Airband to preserve the rich heritage of Clovelly\u2019s cobbled streets. It has certainly made it a challenging project, especially when you take into account the steep terrain as well, but the team at Airband has risen to the challenge.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The village previously only had access to much slower internet connectivity, and thus the arrival of FTTP<\/a> will no doubt be seen as a very welcome boost. But sometimes it’s better to show than tell..<\/p>\n