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Gigaclear guns for 3,000 new pure fibre premises in rural Oxfordshire

Pure fibre ISP Gigaclear plans to bring speeds of up to 1Gbps (1,000Mbps) to over 3,000 more properties in Oxfordshire. 

Gigaclear’s Oxfordshire network, which already encompasses roughly 3,500 premises will expand to at least 6,500 over the next 12 months. 

The company’s not stopping there either, promising to make its pure fibre services available to several thousand more locations throughout 2015. 

Gigaclear guns for 3,000 new pure fibre premises in rural Oxfordshire
Gigaclear’s fibre optic lines, unlike these pretty lights, deliver speeds of up to 1Gbps

Gigaclear is an ISP that specialises in connecting rural communities to pure FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) broadband connections. These can deliver top speeds of 1Gbps, well in excess of what’s possible on conventional ADSL broadband connections. 

While the UK Government’s BDUK (Broadband Delivery for the UK) programme is committed to bringing superfast broadband to 95 per cent of properties by 2017, those in the five per cent, who tend to live and work in remote, rural locations, stand to miss out on the superfast revolution. 

Gigaclear recently passed premises in six villages across Otmoor and has now made three more networks live in the villages of Wootton, Standlake and Forest Hill. 

Further rollouts across the remainder of Wootton, including the Boars Hill area and another new network, connecting properties in Kingston Bagpuize and Southmoor will begin this month. 

Matthew Hare, chief executive of Gigaclear said: “To get the infrastructure Britain needs for a prosperous future, we need to invest. These new, pure fibre networks will unleash the creative potential from homes and businesses across the country. We are excited to be able to be behind these gigabit Oxfordshire communities.” 

Most places covered by local BDUK projects will be able to order FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) based services from ISPs like BT, Direct Save, Sky, TalkTalk and Zen Internet. 

Currently, FTTC on the Openreach network provides top download speeds of 80Mbps and maximum uploads of 20Mbps. Speeds also deteriorate over distance, so the further away your home is from a green cabinet, the slower your service will be. 

FTTP connections don’t suffer from the same distance difference and Gigaclear’s services are symmetrical, meaning your top download and upload speeds are the same. 

Craig Bower, programme manager of local BDUK scheme Better Broadband for Oxfordshire said: “This focussed investment made by Gigaclear in Oxfordshire provides a significant contribution to meeting our programme objective of ensuring over 95 per cent of properties have access to superfast broadband speeds in the county, enabling us to optimise our public sector investment in Oxfordshire’s communications infrastructure.” 

The company has sought cash from investors on London’s AIM (Alternative Investment Market) stock exchange. Gigaclear also recently announced price increases, due to take effect next year, which will help fund the expansion of its many networks across the UK. 

Gigaclear has set up nine localised networks and plans to have 200,000 customers signed up within the next few years. 

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