Author: Joe Brewer

With the latest announcement from the UK Telecoms regulator, Ofcom, the end of confusing jargon in the fibre sector could be on the horizon. Albeit that consumers will have to wait until the autumn, at the earliest, for this to be enforced.

However, Ofcom has announced that it recognises the need for clarity around what fibre and full fibre really is. With legacy networks existing alongside full fibre, and with these often being a mix of both, consumers need to be given the right information about what it is they are buying.

Ofcom note, “Ofcom research has found that only 46% of customers who reported being on full-fibre broadband were living in areas where it is actually available.[1]” and, “In addition, more than a quarter (27%) of broadband customers lacked confidence in understanding the language and terminology used by providers.[2]”.

In summary, they are stating that internet providers use clear information, with industry references to the type of network consistent across the sector. So, no more fibre or full fibre unless a connection is actually FTTP. They state, “So, we are proposing new guidance to ensure providers give information on the underlying technology of the broadband connection using one or two consistent terms. Providers should also give a more detailed explanation of these terms in a format that is readily accessible to customers. ”

This is great news for altnets, who have spent years campaigning for a clearer message in light of the larger incumbent providers using confusing terminology when selling connections to their customers. The hope is, that with a better understanding of what they are really getting, customers will become more mobile and more likely to make the switch to genuine full fibre.

James Warner, CSO at FullFibre comments on this latest announcement, “After years of suffering confusing jargon, customers can now breathe a sigh of relief that there will be some clarity when it comes to what they might actually be getting when they buy broadband. It has taken far too long for Ofcom to announce this, and it won’t come into force until the autumn, at the earliest, so a few more months of miss-leading the consumer left and then we can all be clear on what Fibre actually is.

“Hopefully this is the start of some clarity and consistency across the sector, which won’t just help the consumer, but start to de-mystify something that should be simple and for the benefit of all. ”

Gigabit Networks is the latest Internet Service Provider (ISP) to join FullFibre’s partner programme to deliver ultrafast, reliable internet connections via their fibre network.

This new partnership is a further expansion to FullFibre’s ISP partner network, and follows previous new partner announcements for IDNet, Link Broadband, OctaPlus and Zybre. FullFibre has added five new ISP partners to its network since July 2022, all of which significantly increase its national offering to clients.

The wholesale network provider is currently working to connect its telecoms network to more than 80 market towns across 11 counties in the UK. This latest news follows a year of strong growth for the company, which has 34 of its 80 towns actively in build or connecting customers.

To support its progress, the business saw its headcount increase by 61% in 2022, as it gains significant momentum to continue to build at pace in many underserved areas in the UK.

Commenting on the new partnership, Head of Wholesale at FullFibre, Matt Baker, said “With our national network growing at pace, it is really reassuring to be partnering with Gigabit Networks, who are known for providing quality internet services.

“This addition to our rapidly growing partner programme means we can offer even more choice to residents and businesses across the Midlands, and supplements our overall offering in the towns we operate in”.

David Yates, co-founder of Gigabit Networks also comments, “Having recently been voted ‘Best Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the Midlands’, Gigabit Networks is on a mission to empower the region with faster internet connectivity. This new partnership with FullFibre will help us to reach this goal and reflects our shared values when it comes to transforming lives through high-quality digital services”.

FullFibre is a wholesale telecoms network provider, operating under the customer-facing brand Fibre Heroes, to connect the historically overlooked towns of the UK with an ultrafast broadband connection.

Gigabit Networks is the Gigabit Fibre Internet Champion for the Midlands. They aim to empower the Midlands with faster, future-proofed, ultra-reliable internet connectivity and unlock the possibilities that come with gigabit-capable fibre broadband.

FullFibre’s ISP partners now include BeFibre, Gigabit Networks, IDNet, Link Broadband, Merula, OctaPlus, Redline and Squirrel.

Wholesale network provider FullFibre further strengthens the rollout of its gigabit capable internet service by adding two new partners to its ISP network.

The latest expansion of FullFibre’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) network includes Link Broadband and OctaPlus, and follows previous announcements for IDNet and Zybre. These four new partners significantly increase FullFibre’s national offering.

The wholesale network provider is currently working to connect its telecoms network to more than 80 market towns across 11 counties in the UK. This latest news follows a year of strong growth for the company, which has 34 of its 80 towns actively in build or connecting customers.

To support its progress, the business has seen its headcount increase by 61% in 2022, as it gains significant momentum to continue to build at pace in many underserved areas in the UK.

James Warner, CSO at FullFibre comments, “We are really pleased to be working with these new partners, all of whom bring more choice to customers looking to connect to the FullFibre network. A big part of our ethos at FullFibre is to level the digital landscape across the UK.

“By securing a future-proof full fibre internet connection in our regions for decades to come, and doing so with a range of ISP partners to choose from, we are creating both more choice and opportunity in these overlooked areas”.

CEO of FullFibre, Oliver Helm, also comments, “Bringing on new partners is just one aspect of our growth this year, as we work to connect the hard-to-reach towns and villages typically over-looked by larger providers.   I am wholly proud of the work we have been doing here at FullFibre, and I am really looking forward to further successes in 2023 as we continue to build at pace”.

Link Broadband is an internet service provider offering full fibre residential broadband packages to homes and businesses, enabling their customers to harness the potential of the Internet.

OctaPlus is a nationwide internet service provider which aims to provide outstanding customer support, alongside industry leading prices and outstanding value for money, to its customers.

FullFibre’s ISP partners now include BeFibre, IDNet, Link Broadband, Merula, OctaPlus, Redline and Squirrel.

Wholesale network provider FullFibre is investing £6.6 million into building a full fibre network in Oswestry, with services now live.

The first homes and business in the town are now live, with plans to make 100% of the town live by mid 2023. This long-anticipated upgrade to the current network means that residents in Oswestry will have access to 100% fibre optic ultrafast internet, capable of download speeds that are 20 times faster than the national average.

Oswestry is one of a number of Shropshire towns being served by FullFibre, whose mission is to connect the underserved towns of the UK with superior broadband.

With a build cadence in excess of 10,000 properties per month, FullFibre is well on track to succeed in its ambition to build to half a million premises by 2025. The network provider has been working to build these challenging networks at pace, and with the latest new ISP partner announcement they are well positioned to scale up their offering going into 2023.

CSO of FullFibre, James Warner, comments, “We are really proud to be rolling out our wholesale only fibre network to Oswestry, where local homes and business can now access these ultrafast connections and be a leading UK town when it comes to digital services.

The internet is an integral part of daily life, and it has a real impact on how communities operate and the way we live our lives. Everyone has the right to the best internet connection possible, and we can’t wait to serve that through our partner community to local residents”.

North Shropshire MP, Helen Morgan, comments, “The pandemic demonstrated just how reliant we all are on good connectivity and as we move forward that dependence will only increase.   The fibre to the cabinet, copper to the home service which most people currently use is already not fit for purpose for many.   Seeing Oswestry at the front of the queue for ‘Fibre to the Premise’ is really exciting and it’s encouraging to know how many other communities in the constituency are also in line to benefit from the same services in the future. ”

Local business and residents can access these new services through any broadband provider active in the area including BeFibre, IDNet, Link Broadband, Merula, OctaPlus, Redline and Squirrel.

To stay up to date with the progress of the build in Oswestry and the rest of the country, register your details on the Fibre Heroes website.

FullFibre is building in Matlock to deliver ultrafast broadband services that will go live in early 2023.

The wholesale network provider, FullFibre, is currently working to connect its wholesale telecoms network to more than 80 market towns across 11 counties in the UK. Building at pace in many underserved areas in the UK, it is providing a much-needed upgrade to the country’s digital infrastructure.

With services due to go live early next year (2023), Matlock residents will have access to ultrafast internet for the first time. The roll out will be in stages, with all residents and businesses across the town able to access the full fibre internet by the middle of 2023.

Commenting on the progress of the build in Matlock, Adele Whild, COO, said, “We are really pleased to be building our full fibre network here in Matlock, which continues at pace. This is part of an on-going roll-out, with the first homes due to go live early in 2023”.

Once live, local businesses and residents will be able to access these new services through one of FullFibre’s ISP partners BeFibre, IDNet, Link Broadband, Merula, OctaPlus, Redline and Squirrel.

Link Broadband is the latest Internet Service Provider (ISP) to join FullFibre’s partner programme to deliver ultrafast, reliable internet connections via the FullFibre network.

This latest partnership is a further expansion of FullFibre’s ISP partner network, and follows previous partner announcements this year for IDNet and Zybre.

FullFibre is a wholesale telecoms network provider, operating under the customer-facing brand Fibre Heroes, to connect the historically overlooked towns of the UK with an ultrafast broadband connection.

Link Broadband is an internet service provider offering full fibre residential broadband packages to homes and businesses, enabling their customers to harness the potential of the Internet.

Matt Baker, Head of Wholesale at FullFibre, comments on the partnership, “Link Broadband’s partnership with us is a great sign of the momentum here at FullFibre, Like us, Link Broadband want to make ultrafast internet easily accessible. We are really pleased to be part of their national network and to be able to offer Link Broadband’s attractive services to the residents of our build towns”.

Geo John Pandekkatt, CTO of Link broadband also comments, “We are extremely happy and grateful to have the opportunity to cooperate with FullFibre to provide complete fibre broadband to UK residential and businesses. Within the FullFibre network area, our network may offer connections to residential customers at 1 Gbps complete fibre and companies at 10 Gbps. ”

FullFibre’s ISP partners now include BeFibre, IDNet, Link Broadband, Merula, Redline and Squirrel.

The town of Alfreton can now experience gigabit speeds thanks to our Fibre Heroes.

A reliable FTTP broadband connection in Alfreton means many residents and businesses can now take full advantage of ultrafast internet and avoid pained connectivity issues.

Ultrafast internet in towns like Alfreton can offer digital opportunities for businesses in the area as well as drastically improve the connection for those working from home.

We’ve worked hard to complete this build providing access to full fibre broadband with over 4,000 properties now live across Somercotes, Leabrooks, Riddings and Swanwick.

Our mission also helps to promote our ISP partners through our Fibre Heroes marketing campaign, targeting locations across Derbyshire and the Midlands to increase market competition and provide more choice for customers.

Our CSO, James Warner stated:

“Putting towns and communities live and providing more opportunities for our partners is the really exciting bit about what we do. Connecting customers to a true 21st century network is what we are all here for and the opportunity for our partners and the towns we cover is growing day by day. ”

With our mission to connect underserved areas, we plan to reach the rest of Alfreton in the near future so all residents can join the internet revolution.

We have turned the two towns of  Evesham and Cheadle live by connecting them to our newly built full fibre network, offering gigabit speeds to thousands of premises across the two market towns.

In Cheadle, just over 50% of the town (over 5,000 properties) can now take service with the other 50% nearing completion over the next 6 months. Evesham, not to be outdone, is also live and available to over 5,000 residents today representing 1/3 of this town as complete with the rest being delivered by Q2 of next year.

As a wholesale only broadband network provider, we promote our ISP partners through our Fibre Heroes marketing campaign, targeting locations across market towns with typically underserved broadband infrastructure.

These two towns going live are two of many either now live or imminent to be so from the 30+ currently in a phase of build for the network operator.

Our CSO, James Warner said:

“We continue to build and send live areas like Evesham and Cheadle at pace to make sure our partner ISP’s can make the most of this new service offering to residents in these areas. We know some of the towns we build have had suggested interest from other providers, but actually getting customers connected in these towns is what counts and that’s where our partner ISP’s really benefit. ”

This falls in line with our work across all of our build locations continuing to grow with active build now in 11 Counties.

We’re thrilled to be selected as finalists at the prestigious Comms National Awards 2022. We have been nominated for three awards including:

BEST Partner Programme (above £10M)

BEST Supplier Innovation Award

BEST Wholesale Network Provider

Over the last few years, we have worked hard to bring ultrafast internet to underserved locations, transform communities, and form strong partnerships with internet service providers.

It’s wonderful to be acknowledged and celebrated for these achievements.

The Comms National Awards is in its 21st year and involves an independent judging process to recognise the success of UK resellers and the suppliers that support public and private sector business customers.

It will take place on Thursday 13th October at The Hilton, Park Lane in London with an evening of entertainment and industry networking.

We are very much looking forward to being a part of this exciting event and the community feeling it creates

FullFibre is thrilled to announce two additional members joining the team: Adele Whild as Director of Delivery and Ross Duke as Chief Technical Officer.

Adele will be responsible for ramping up all customer install activities across the business aiming to deliver a first class experience for their partner ISP’s and end users alike.   Additionally, Adele’s remit will extend to managing the build control and support areas to facilitate faster build growth from the build functions and contractors alike.

Adele has previously worked for Tier 1 contractors and has a decade of experience working in B2B and B2C roles at Virgin, Cityfibre, and Telent.

Adele is looking forward to strengthening the installation process at FullFibre for a seamless customer experience by focusing on people, processes, and tooling for consistent delivery.

She had this to say:

“The fundamental way residential and business customers use the internet has changed. The market towns FullFibre serve have been carefully chosen to enable our partners to easily improve the online experience, creating a positive impact within local communities. ”

Ross Duke as CTO will be in charge of all things technical including internal IT, network uptime & security and all active network management across the business

Ross has over 25 years of experience working in senior positions across a number of established industry players in telecoms, working his way through various industry roles to understand entire technical processes. He is excited to be a part of an efficient and quality-driven network builder.

He had this to say:

“The opportunity to work at FullFibre was something far too exciting to pass up. As a business, we’re building a true wholesale only network into market towns to give the consumer access to the latest and greatest technology through a choice of their own ISP’s. At the same time, we’re providing a credible scaled choice away from the Openreach model. ”

FullFibre is a wholesale network provider building an infrastructure that creates dynamic partnerships that connect residents and businesses to ultrafast broadband.