Posted: 20th Sep, 2011 By: MarkJ
Rutland Telecom (RT), a
Gigaclear ISP that specialises in bringing superfast broadband internet access into some of the UK's most remote communities, has finally begun deployment of a full ultrafast
1Gbps (
1000Mbps) capable
Fibre-to-the-Home ( FTTH / FTTP ) fibre optic broadband network in the rural village of
Hambleton (
Leicestershire).
Matthew Hare, CEO Gigaclear, said:
"This Hambleton build is this is the start of the Gigaclear plan to build ultrafast connection to rural communities. Our focus is national and targeted in areas where there is a high demand for secure, high quality connections."
The project, which was first announced in December 2010 (
here) and supported by private investment, is being seen as the next stage in RT's vision "
to provide fibre to all premises in Rutland using Gigaclear's expertise". It will certainly offer a significant boost from the villages
current average speed of just 0.7Mbps (BT).
Digging (civil works) officially started on 13th September 2011, which appears to represent a
lengthy delay from the original completion target of Spring 2011. It's understood that the first customers will be
going live in the next few weeks.
Hambleton Service Offerings:
•Residential package 50Mbps download, 5Mbps upload 25GB usage allowance standard contention and free router for £50/month, 12 month contract.
•Business package: 50Mbps download, 50Mbps upload 250GB usage allowance, low contention and free router for £100/month, 12 month contract.
Locals who registered their interest before 1st December 2010 will also benefit from a
free connection. Sadly anybody who didn't will have to stump up a shocking £1,000 +vat, which includes the legal costs of a
wayleave agreement. Thankfully most won't need to pay that.
UPDATE 21st September 2011Rutland Telecom has let us known that some of the information on its website is out of date and will be replaced. We've made some adjustments and were pleased to learn that the first customers in Hambleton will be going live within the next few weeks. We'll update further once the new page is online, which should hopefully be today or tomorrow.
UPDATE 22nd September 2011Added a quote from the official PR that went out today.