Hyperoptic full-fibre network hits public housing milestone

Full-fibre broadband network builder and service provider Hyperoptic has now passed 160,000 social and community housing properties around the UK with its ultrafast fibreoptic network.

In addition to its roll-out to commercial developments, over the past 18 months Hyperoptic has established itself as a leading provider of broadband services to public housing projects in the UK.

To date, it has worked alongside 50 local councils such as Brent and Southwark in London, Thurrock in Essex, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham and Salford in Greater Manchester, as well as providers of social housing.

“For too long ‘digital inclusion’ has been a buzzword that broadband providers have bandied around to secure grants and funding. It’s not the case for us,” said Hyperoptic chief sales officer Floyd Widener.

“Working successfully with social landlords is a strategic priority for our business, which is why we are squarely focused on getting residents successfully connected. The provision of our full-fibre service is just one part of this equation – we also offer digital skills training and flexible products, such as rolling contracts and a low-price broadband-only service.”

Currently, it is estimated that around 11.3 million adults in the UK are excluded from fully participating in the digital society at a cost of £63bn in potential gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, according to NHS Digital statistics, 37% of the digitally excluded are social housing tenants.

Steven Waite, director of technical and commercial at A2Dominion, one of the many social housing providers with developments on Hyperoptic’s books, said: “We recognise the vital role that fast and reliable broadband services can play in getting a tenant online.

“However, in the past we’ve had very little control over what broadband and telephone services our residents could opt for. It was a broadband postcode lottery depending on the available existing broadband infrastructure at each site.

“Thanks to our collaboration with Hyperoptic, thousands of properties across our portfolio are now enabled with its gigabit connectivity and it’s growing all the time,” said Waite.

Hyperoptic’s Widener added: “Its proven that being able to take advantage of everything the internet has to offer makes you financially better off, healthier and more communicative.”

Supporting both its public and private sector roll-out, which altogether has passed half a million homes, Hyperoptic completed a £250m debt raise from a consortium of eight banks in August 2018, with the ultimate aim of passing five million properties by the middle of the 2020s.

At the time, Hyperoptic claimed this was the largest ever single investment in full-fibre broadband services in the UK.