{"id":36352,"date":"2023-11-20T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T00:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=36352"},"modified":"2023-11-18T10:30:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T10:30:46","slug":"alncom-hails-remote-rural-full-fibre-rollout-in-breamish-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/11\/alncom-hails-remote-rural-full-fibre-rollout-in-breamish-valley.html","title":{"rendered":"Alncom Hails Remote Rural Full Fibre Rollout in Breamish Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deploying a gigabit-capable full fibre broadband ISP network across a remote and sparse rural area in the UK is no cheap or easy task, but alternative network operator Alncom<\/a> are now celebrating after they largely completed one of their most challenging builds to date in Northumerland’s (England) Breamish valley area.<\/p>\n

Just to recap. The Alnwick-based provider is currently aiming to extend their Fibre-to-the-Premises<\/strong> (FTTP<\/a>) network to cover 50,000 premises in the North East of England \u2013 mostly across rural parts of Northumberland, County Durham and the Scottish Borders. Despite being a smaller player, the operator recently passed the 25,000 premises<\/strong> mark (that’s more than double last year\u2019s figure).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Alncom \u2013  using kit from ADTRAN\u2019s TA5000 fibre access platform \u2013 is supported by investment from Railsite Telecom<\/a> (here<\/a>) and the government\u2019s gigabit voucher scheme.<\/div>\n

The operator has already deployed across big parts of many locations, such as Alnwick, Amble, Rothbury and Wooler. But one of the biggest challenges they’ve faced has come from their efforts to extend that network out across the remote rural Breamish Valley<\/strong> and surrounding areas, which until recently were largely hobbled by slower broadband speeds via Openreach<\/a>’s older copper-line based network.<\/p>\n

Work on the project, which is funded by a mix of investment sources (e.g. the government’s gigabit broadband vouchers with Borderlands top-ups, plus some commercial investment), started in 2020 with a plan to cover the Upper Breamish Valley and Beanley (previously the area had been covered by their wireless network). The build would not have been economically viable without some public investment.<\/p>\n

Stephen Pinchen, Alncom\u2019s MD, told ISPreview: “We started building fibre from Powburn with the first fibre connections going live in early 2022 & we were able to convert some wireless customers to fibre. Total build time was around 12 months, but we keep going back & extending it! We were very fortunate to get a lot of help from local landowners, so the bulk of the build is ploughed into private land, with about 25% built using PIA.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

As it stands, the provider has so far deployed over 200km of new fibre and the network has grown to cover 3 valleys (Breamish Valley, Aln Valley & Upper Coquetdale) over a geographic area of 139km square! A free full fibre broadband service has also been provided to 7 community hubs, while their wider gigabit broadband packages are now available to 1,563 properties, with more to follow.<\/p>\n

Map of Alncom\u2019s Breamish Valley Fibre Network<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alncom-Breamish-Valley-FTTP-Network-Map\"<\/p>\n

Alncom declined to tell us how much the build so far has cost, but they claim to be seeing strong take-up from their efforts. The most remote areas, such as Great Ryle to Biddlestone, currently have the highest take-up they’ve seen as their original broadband was virtually non-existent. As Alncom have moved into areas with existing FTTC<\/a>, they’re similarly seeing take-up “exceed what we\u2019d expect in urban areas with FTTC<\/a><\/em>“.<\/p>\n

The work hasn’t gone unnoticed, with Alncom recently winning the \u2018Best Hybrid fibre\/wireless network<\/em>\u2019 in this year\u2019s UKWISPA awards. The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT \/ BDUK) also commissioned a case study showing the success of the network & featuring one of their customers – Ingram Valley Safaris.<\/p>\n