Gigaclear Relies on KEYMILE for Optical Fibre Expansion

British telecommunications provider Gigaclear is building ultrafast optical fibre networks with KEYMILE technology in rural areas of England. Tens of thousands of households and businesses will benefit from bandwidth of one gigabit per second.

Ultrafast internet access remains an unfulfilled dream for many people living in Europe’s rural areas. However, there are exceptions to the rule. Telecommunications provider Gigaclear from the UK is investing in setting up and expanding its own future-proof optical fibre infrastructure. The network operator has to date connected more than 52,000 homes and businesses in 16 counties to its optical fibre network with a Gigabit Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) solution – and more are to follow in future. 

The MileGate 2510 IP-MSAN (Multi-Service Access Node) lies at the heart of the optical fibre networks. It’s a scalable and very reliable solution for ultrafast gigabit broadband access. Configured as an FTTH node, the IP-MSAN stands apart for its flexible architecture and high level of port density. The network operator can connect up to 480 subscribers in a PtP structure from one single FTTH node. Another outstanding feature of MileGate 2510 is its compact optical gigabit Ethernet interface (cSFP) that allows Gigaclear to realise much lower costs per port. Gigaclear also gains from the IP-MSAN’s very good interoperability with CPEs made by different manufacturers. 

Due to its robust design, the IP-MSAN can easily be deployed in outdoor cabinets and therefore fulfils a key requirement of the Gigaclear network architecture. The fact that it’s designed to cope with a wide range of temperatures translates into smooth, carrier-grade-quality operation, even under difficult ambient conditions. At the beginning, the network operator used the standard FTTH functions in MileGate. During the collaboration, further requirements in terms of service and reliability were made, which KEYMILE very flexibly implemented.

Gigaclear is planning to continue its tried-and-test business model with KEYMILE in future too. In terms of its business strategy, the company is taking a two-pronged approach: the network operator itself is investing in areas that have not been connected until now and expanding existing infrastructure. In 2016, the company received a loan of £22m (Euro25m) from the European Investment Bank (EIB). A further £184m has been provided by equity investors, including £111m secured in 2017 from institutional investors Woodford, Prudential Infracapital and Railpen.

In addition to targeted commercial investment, Gigaclear develops opportunities that materialise from the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, sponsored by the British government. The BDUK programme seeks to roll out superfast broadband to rural areas of the country which are currently underserved using OJEU procurements run by individual counties. Currently, Gigaclear has already contracted to provide service to more than 250,000 rural households and businesses in Southern England and is looking to expand its’ network well beyond this. Thus, the company specialises in connecting the rural-most communities, which is the biggest challenge facing all Eu-ropean countries.

"We’re highly satisfied with KEYMILE’s solution, technical support and service. These are reasons why our collaboration has developed successfully over the last five years. KEYMILE has proved to be an important strategic partner for developing and providing future-proof and powerful optical fibre networks,” comments Matthew Hare, CEO of Gigaclear in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. "In rural districts and small towns where broadband access is poor or variable, the full fibre networks of the type we’re setting up with KEYMILE solutions, delivering life-changing symmetric Gigabit broadband, transform the living and working conditions of the entire population.”

Source: KEYMILE media announcement