Rural operator Broadway Partners (ISP Broadway Broadband) has today announced that they will aim to roll-out their “gigabit-capable” fibre network to cover 500,000 UK homes and businesses by the end of 2022, starting with 5,000 in Wales (Monmouthshire) and Scotland (Perth & Kinross, Stirlingshire and Ayrshire).
At present the operator has already done a limited deployment of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology in the tiny rural Monmouthshire (Wales) village of Llanddewi Rhydderch (here) and they’ve previously revealed a plan to extend that network to another 50 villages in the county (here), although today’s announcement drops this figure to 40.
However the company now intends to go much further and have today “significantly raised” their medium-term target, from 10,000 to 500,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2022. As above their initial focus seems to be on parts of the United Kingdom where they’ve previously deployed some existing fixed wireless (TVWS) solutions, such as Wales and Scotland.
Sadly the announcement doesn’t tell us much about where all of the funding for this is expected to come from, although at least part of it is due to be supported by the UK Government’s new £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) scheme (i.e. vouchers for rural homes and businesses). But Broadway isn’t the only one using that and so it will only take them so far.
Michael Armitage, CEO of Broadway, said:
“Bringing a range of technology options, including wireless and fibre, to the challenge of rural connectivity, ensures we can deliver fast, affordable broadband in the most challenging on locations. With a pipeline of hundreds of villages and communities ready for ‘the fibre treatment’, we are pleased to be doing our bit to get the country connected.”
Broadway, which is already ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified, added that they’ve been quick to implement new policies and procedures following the Covid-19 outbreak, to ensure strict compliance with Government guidelines on safe working practices.
“As a result, the company has not slowed its rate of network expansion, and the demand for its services has never been stronger, with the network comfortably absorbing the 50% month-on-month traffic increases prompted by the surge in home-working and video calling and streaming,” said the provider.
The ISP’s related entry-level 100Mbps fibre service (12-month contract) costs from £19.99 (incl. VAT) per month, which is pretty cheap for a rural service of that speed. Apparently all of their planned deployments will also be complemented by a “broad portfolio of Fixed Wireless and 4G technologies, ensuring no-one is left behind in the new digital world.”
