Rochdale-base broadband ISP Zen Internet has today become the first national provider to sign a wholesale deal that will enable them to sell services to premises covered by alternative operator Trooli, which has deployed a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 370,000 homes and businesses across parts of England and Scotland.
Trooli’s network is mostly found in towns and large semi-rural villages across parts of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, West Sussex and Wiltshire in England. As well as parts of North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Fife in Scotland (this bit was formerly part of Axione UK’s network, before the merger – here).
Meanwhile, Zen Internet has, until now, only sold packages to consumers and businesses that are based on broadband products from Openreach and CityFibre’s much larger national networks. But they’ve today announced that they’ll also be adding Trooli’s full fibre network to that list.
The move is interesting because Trooli was previously more of a vertically integrated operator that acted as both a network builder and retail provider, which can sometimes make it harder for retail ISPs to agree a wholesale deal with attractive enough commercials and terms (note: Axione UK did already offer a wholesale solution via Scotnet Fibre, but only in Scotland).
Andy Conibere, CEO of Trooli, said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Zen, one of the largest retail ISPs in the UK, as our businesses are so well aligned. Our network is ready for service so this new partnership allows Zen Internet to expand its customer reach and quickly connect its customers to a high performing network.
Our teams are leaders in their field, very experienced at exceeding the needs of wholesale partners and this partnership is a significant step for Trooli’s wholesale business. Unlike many altnets we are continuing to build our network to areas of the UK that will benefit from it the most and are dedicated to the innovation required to provide access to the fastest and most reliable full fibre broadband.”
Richard Tang, CEO of Zen Internet, said:
“This is an exciting time for our industry as we are experiencing the last major infrastructure rollout of our generation. By joining forces with Trooli as a wholesale partner, we’re enabling access to high-quality broadband infrastructure for homes and businesses in previously underserved areas.
Trooli’s commitment to delivering essential infrastructure to rural and semi-rural regions is facilitating digital access to communities that would otherwise be left behind. Through this partnership we’re proud to offer our award-winning services as an attractive alternative, providing greater consumer choice for these premises.”
At the time of writing Zen Internet hasn’t revealed any details of the packages or prices they’ll be offering, which will no doubt follow in the not-too-distant future. But the pair have published a new interview between the CEOs of each company, which reveals more about today’s agreement and we’ve published that below.