Hyperoptic Expands Its London Fibre Broadband Network

Hyperoptic, the London-based fibre ISP, has announced plans to extend its Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) network to offer more people access to the “fastest broadband in the UK”.

The company has already connected 10,000 homes across 12 London boroughs, and wants to double this number by the end of the year. The ISP has said it plans to provide one Gigabit broadband to half a million UK homes in the next five years.

Fat pipes

Hyperoptic, founded in 2011 by two Be Broadband employees, aspires to offer a full Gigabit broadband to multi-resident property developments in London. So far, the company has laid cable in Barnet, Croydon, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster.

Among other clients, Hyperoptic will provide broadband to London Docklands and the Canary Wharf. “The broadband issues in the Docklands have been incredibly frustrating for us, so we are thrilled to be working with Hyperoptic to now provide our residents with the fastest broadband in the UK,” said Gary Sacks, managing director at City and Docklands.

The expansion of the superfast network could help achieve the target set by the UK government of having the best broadband in Europe by 2015. “It’s widely understood that the UK is one of the biggest users of technology, with the Internet contributing more to its economy than any other country in the world, accounting for nearly 8.3 per cent of gross domestic product,” Boris Ivanovic, founder and chairman of Hyperoptic, told Uswitch.

“Having the infrastructure to support this growth is paramount, although previously the focus has only been on hitting coverage – meaning the UK doesn’t make the top 15 countries for broadband speeds,” he added.

For just £50 a month, Hyperoptic will provide a “Hyper-sonic” 1Gbps service. It also offers a traditional 20Mbps service with prices starting at £12.50, and a 100Mbps symmetric service costing £25 per month. All packages include unlimited downloads and exclude traffic management policies.

How does such a cheap FTTP service work? To get Hyperoptic broadband, most of the residents of the property have to register their interest on the website. They also have to get the permission of the landlord or property manager.

Fibre cable is then connected directly to the house and distributed using hubs connected to a HyperHub. As a result, residents get the fastest broadband available and Hyperoptic gets guaranteed income.

Last month, the newly appointed culture secretary Maria Miller unveiled plans to relax rules governing broadband infrastructure, hoping it would help supply 90 percent of homes and businesses in the UK with Internet access offering at least 24 Mbps download speeds.

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