Alternative UK broadband ISP Connexin has today issued a short progress update to state that they’re about to enter the build phase on their £58.6m (state aid funded) Project Gigabit contract for rural parts of Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire (Lot 10), which aims to expand their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 34,320 hard to reach premises.
The operator hasn’t said much about the contract since it was announced back in February 2024 (here), although it sometimes takes a few months for the usual engineering surveys and contractor arrangements to be sorted out before the construction phase begins. “Connexin will soon move onto the build stage, which will see the first premises connected by early 2025,” said the operator today – echoing the original announcement from early 2024.
As part of the work, rural properties in hard-to-reach areas such as Kirkby in Ashfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Annesley, Wragby and Market Rasen will undergo a major digital upgrade with the introduction of Connexin’s full fibre (FTTP) broadband infrastructure.
The move will also complement the provider’s wider aspiration of extending their 10Gbps capable network across 500,000 premises in East Yorkshire and beyond (England). But Connexin hasn’t provided a wider update on their deployment progress since May 2023, when they had just 25,000 premises covered by FTTP.
Furqan Alamgir, CEO at Connexin, said:
“As a company driven to improve lives through digital innovation, Connexin is delighted to be working with BDUK on bringing Ultrafast Connectivity to these hard-to-reach areas. This fibre network will not only offer significantly faster broadband speeds but will serve as a backbone for many other services to truly digitally enable rural Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire.“
The announcement follows shortly after the ISP launched a new 5Gbps (symmetric speed) package called “Fibre 5000“ (here), which costs £124.99 per month for 24-months (£149.99 thereafter) and includes “free” installation.