More than 100,000 properties in Cumbria are to benefit from the installation of fibre broadband.
Telecoms provider Fibrus announced the news after spending the last 18 months transforming the broadband market in Northern Ireland.
The company, which is backed by M&G’s Infracapital, is already building a network in Penrith and over the next three years plans to deliver full-fibre broadband to 100,000 homes and businesses in regional towns across Cumbria.
Conal Henry, Fibrus’ co-founder and chairman said: “People living in small towns and rural areas of the UK are tired of having no choice when it comes to broadband networks. For years they’ve been hearing only promises of proper broadband from the phone companies.
“Fibrus has shown in Northern Ireland that we can take on the rural network monopoly and win, so we plan to do exactly the same thing here in the north of England.”
In Northern Ireland, Fibrus is deploying its network to over 100 towns and villages with investment from Infracapital and is working with the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver Project Stratum to the hardest to reach parts of the country. In northern England, the company plans to replicate its strategy.
Conal continued: “We will build in 118 small towns in Cumbria and across the North East. Beyond that, we will be bidding for BDUK Project Gigabit subsided programmes that will be launched in the coming months.
“If we are successful, Fibrus will deliver full-fibre broadband networks to a large swathe of rural and regional England, areas which have previously only ever been offered an upgraded phone line from the incumbent.”
A spokeswoman for Fibrus said that every major town in Cumbria is to benefit from the upgrade.
