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NextGenUs unveils £10m rural fibre optic broadband investment
The community network firm is inviting communities to register their interest in receiving fibre optic broadband.
The telecoms firm, in partnership with AFL Telecommunications, has launched a competition enabling remote villages to register their interest in gaining access to fibre optic broadband.
Entitled Beyond Infinity, the contest is a direct riposte to BT's Race to Infinity campaign, in which rural communities across the UK were urged to vote to display their levels of demand for access to the technology.
The winners of the Race to Infinity have now been included in the telecoms giant's fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) rollout plans, meaning they will be able to receive speeds of up to 40Mbps in the coming months.
In contrast, NextGenUs offers fibre to the home (FTTH), which is capable of delivering far faster uploads and downloads than FTTC. The company's first rural FTTH network boasted a capacity of 1,000Mbps.
Unlike BT and Virgin Media, NextGenUs does not rely on government subsidies to bring fibre broadband to remote parts of the country, instead taking advantage of support from the local community and private sector.
Guy Jarvis, the firm's chief executive, revealed as many as 10,000 homes and businesses will benefit from the £10 million Beyond Infinity investment.
"This is real money on the table, unlike the kind of 'Race to Infinity' marketing exercise promoted by BT," he stated.
"NextGenUs will invest in those communities who demonstrate demand and their determination for change."
Technical director Simon Davison added: "NextGenUs aims to quadruple BT's meagre performance and looks to deliver 24 communities with truly future-proof telecommunications ready for the next century."
The announcement is a further boost for rural fibre broadband, coming shortly after Fujitsu revealed it will collaborate with TalkTalk and Virgin Media to bring the technology to five million homes in remote areas of Britain.