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UK ISP Grain announced today that its ongoing deployment of a new gigabit-speed fiber-to-premises (FTTP) based broadband network is being extended to include an unspecified number of homes in the city of Leicester (Leicestershire, England), which has a population of approximately 360,000.
The supplier, who was recently doped with a £ 75 million the equity investment in Equitix (here) aims to eventually cover 300,000 premises in the United Kingdom. As part of this, they are already expanding their network in parts of Liverpool, Accrington, Grimsby, Scarborough, Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness and Blackburn, among others.
REMARK: Grain’s deployment in the UK aims to be delivered within the next 5 years (i.e. by 2026).
The last city to join this list is Leicestershire. Some of the first streets to be connected will include those around Narborough Road, Paton Street and Eastleigh Road, with further expansion across the city between Poole Road and Beatrice Road. Many more will follow.
New customers can expect to pay from just £ 14.99 per month for a 50 Mbps symmetrical speed plan, which goes up to £ 44.99 for their highest 900 Mbps plan. All these packages come with a minimum contract of 12 months, free installation and a router. Suffice to say that the goal of such aggressive pricing is often to attract rapid adoption.
Tracy Karam, Head of Customer Experience at Grain, said:
“The response from residents and businesses has been overwhelming, with many having signed up for the service even before the work on their streets is complete.
Our service has become even more popular in recent months as customers increasingly rely on a fast, reliable and secure network for working, learning, playing and entertainment. We are delighted to roll out our offer pricing for Leicester residents, allowing them access to true fiber at unbeatable prices. “
The challenge here is that Leicester is already home to several rival gigabit-capable broadband networks. For example, Virgin Media already covers the vast majority of the city, while there is a growing range of FTTP deployments of Openreach, CityFibre, Hyperoptic, OFNL and Fibrehop (Triangle Networks). Glide also has some coverage in the city, but we don’t know how much of it is FTTP vs SLU FTTC.
Suffice it to say that Leicester looks set to become a very competitive market and so we are a little surprised that Grain has chosen it as one of its first deployments.
