Fastershire and Gigaclear are set to begin the rollout of a new ultrafast broadband network in Ledbury.

The rollout is part subsidised by Fastershire, Herefordshire Council’s partnership with Gloucestershire County Council to bring faster broadband to the two counties, however, the majority of the new network in Ledbury is a result of a significant commercial investment by Gigaclear.  

Earlier this year Gigaclear announced plans to increase its commercial rollout in the county and reach more properties and as a result, the supplier now intends to cover all of the market town.

Oliver Helm, CEO at Full Fibre Ltd, Jamie Flint, Gigaclear Regional General Manager and Councillor Ellie Chowns

Gigaclear specialise in Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) broadband which is the newest form of fibre broadband technology. Also referred to as full fibre, this technology is able to provide gigabit access and download and upload speeds up a 1000mpbs to each property. 

To deliver the network in Ledbury, Gigaclear will be working with a new partner, Full Fibre Limited.

Jamie Flint, Gigaclear’s Regional General Manager, said, “We are pleased to be working with Full Fibre Limited and will be using new build methods that will enable us to reach over 5,000 premises in the Ledbury area. In extending our network to this area, we will be making use of existing infrastructure here possible, which will help ensure we are able to minimise disruption to residents.

Once completed, people in Ledbury will be able to enjoy access to our ultrafast full fibre network, which has the capability of providing speeds of up to a gigabit per second – a massive improvement on what is currently available in this area!”

Oliver Helm, CEO at Full Fibre Limited, said they are delighted to be helping Gigaclear and Fastershire to deliver this across Ledbury, adding, “As specialists in market town fibre deployments we know how vital and transformative great connectivity can be to communities like Ledbury, but also how important it is to reduce disruption as far as possible whilst we do so.

Over the coming months our teams will be out on the ground planning and building this new network and working with the community to do so as smoothly as possible.”

Councillor Ellie Chowns, Cabinet Member for Environment, Economy and Skills, said, “The events of this year have reinforced how important fast and reliable broadband is to all of us, so I’m delighted to see the build in Ledbury finally get underway.

Whilst the rollout across the county has faced delays, I do welcome Gigaclear’s increased commercial investment across rural Herefordshire and here in Ledbury.

The rollout will help Ledbury to become one of only a few market towns in the country to boast 100% full fibre ultrafast coverage.”

Fastershire has helped increase superfast coverage (30mbps or above) to over 92% of properties according the latest figures from ThinkBroadband, but in doing so, has also helped increase the coverage of the new Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) technology.

Currently 26% of properties in Herefordshire can access ultrafast FTTP broadband, which is more than double the national average.

For more information about your broadband, visit www.fastershire.com and use the address checker.

Published: 25th September 2020