The relatively new alternative broadband ISP Gig-ability, which we first wrote about in January 2024 (here), has announced that they’ve started the first build phase of their plan to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across poorly served rural villages in Shropshire (England).
Just to recap. Gig-ability originally informed us that they aspired to cover 10,000 “extremely rural premises“, starting in January 2024 with a build in the small Shropshire parish and market town of Much Wenlock. The town itself is home to a population of almost 3,000 and currently isn’t served by any gigabit-capable broadband networks, although Openreach and FullFibre Limited have both expressed plans to deploy FTTP.
Since then, the provider has increased their coverage aspiration to 18,000 premises in Shropshire alone, and they’ve this week finally started their first build of 1,253 premises in Much Wenlock (a little bit later than previously expressed). The aim is to complete this build within the space of just 2 months. “We’ve had a great response from the local community and a great take up of early adopters,” said CEO Dave Swanston to ISPreview.
Gig-ability has also appointed a COO in the shape of Matt Penman, who is said to add “huge rollout experience” to their leadership team and will help them to “grow at pace with quality and compliance in mind.” The provider initially also aims to create 15 local jobs in Shropshire and there’s still talk of a possible future expansion into parts of Wiltshire and Scotland, which could push their committed initial investment from around £5-6m to £15m.
Once live, the first customers can expect to pay from just £15 per month for their 250Mbps “Equal Access” package on a 12-month term, which rises to only £37.50 for their top 1Gbps tier – all with symmetrical speeds.