Vodafone to connect first 'gigafast' broadband customers in October
Vodafone’s ultrafast broadband service will be available to parts of Milton Keynes from October and the company hopes some aggressive pricing will encourage adoption.
The operator has offered fixed broadband services to consumer and businesses for a number of years using Openreach’s fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) network.
However last year it reached a deal with CityFibre to bring fibre to the premise (FTTP) connectivity to at least one million premises by 2021, a figure which could eventually rise to five million.
Vodafone Gigafast
A successful pilot was staged in Milton Keynes during the summer and on Friday 14 September, Vodafone will open pre-orders with a view to installation in the week commencing 8 October.
“Starting in Milton Keynes, we are helping people break free from the shackles of their old, copper-based broadband,” declared Nick Jeffrey, Vodafone UK CEO. “With Gigafast Broadband, Vodafone is investing in best-in-class infrastructure for the UK, equipping the nation for the future.”
Vodafone offers four varieties of ‘Gigafast broadband’ – 100Mbps for £28 a month, 200Mbps for £33, 500Mbps for £38 and 900Mbps for £48 a month. Installation and router are free, there’s no line rental to pay, and usage is unlimited. Meanwhile, existing Vodafone mobile customers get an additional £5 off.
The attractive pricing is offset somewhat by the fact that only 3,700 homes in Milton Keynes currently have access to the network, but it is expected that all of the city will be covered by 2020.Vodafone and CityFibre will cover parts of Aberdeen and Peterborough later this year, with Coventry, Edinburgh, Huddersfield and Stirling set to follow in 2019.
CityFibre is one of several alternative network providers (altnets) which are deploying full fibre infrastructure across the UK. More traditional providers Openreach, Virgin Media and TalkTalk are among the others to have FTTP plans in the works.
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