UK altnets celebrate further full-fibre milestones

Just days after research from analyst Moody’s predicted the UK’s fixed broadband sector was likely to encounter a series of headwinds, especially in the independent altnet sector, two of the country’s leading firms in the latter sector have shown that, for the present at least, their growth is robust in bringing full-fibre gigabit to the north of England.

A week ago, Brsk announced it was to join forces with fellow altnet Netomnia, and it has now revealed it’s adding the town of Runcorn, Cheshire to its broadband footprint in the North West. The announcement will see almost 30,000 homes and businesses across the town on the banks of the River Mersey able to access gigabit broadband.

The deployment comes after Brsk passed 250,000 premises across neighbouring Greater Manchester, extending its roll-out into Cheshire, including Wilmslow, Handforth and Poynton. Runcorn is the latest area to benefit from access to better broadband, and the addition of the town will see Brsk pass almost 45,000 Cheshire homes.

Nationally, Brsk has passed almost 600,000 homes on its network, across West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, the Black Country and South Birmingham. New areas in Calderdale, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire have recently been added to its network.

“Having expanded our network across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and recently St Helens, we are delighted to now be expanding further across the North West and bring our award-winning broadband services to Runcorn,” said Brsk regional head Gareth Cornelius.

“For too long, the town has been overlooked by the major incumbents, and we feel it’s borderline criminal that the people of Runcorn have so little choice when it comes to good quality and affordable broadband options,” he added. “By bringing our full-fibre services to the town, we look forward to establishing ourselves as the broadband provider of choice for the people of Runcorn.”

Meanwhile, across to the northeastern coast of England, MS3 Networks has announced that a year after a partnership with networks and comparison site Uswitch, residents of Hull who’ve switched broadband provider to the full-fibre operator are saving as much as £520 a year.

The provider said the broadband landscape in Hull means residents have had little choice but to stick with the same internet provider. It noted that the Uswitch research suggested broadband customers that have remained with the same provider for between seven and eight years are the worst off, paying an extra £22 a month on average.

MS3 has now connected over 10,000 customers in the city, with its own market research citing that package speed, price and quality are some of the key reasons for making a switch. The partners added that most broadband contracts last between 12 and 24 months, and cited Uswitch estimates that switching to a new broadband deal after an initial contract has ended could save users up to £179 a year.