Pure fibre ISP Hyperoptic has announced plans to bring its up to 1Gbps wares to residents of Hyde Group’s apartments across south London.
The Hyde Group, one of the UK’s leading housing associations, has properties in Eyot House, Hicks House and The Parker Building in Bermondsey and Pinter, Arden and Beckett House in Stockwell.
As well as making its standard 20Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps packages available to residents, social housing tenants will also be able to access a basic 2Mbps service from Hyperoptic, providing access to services like Universal Credit, for free.
Related: How to get broadband to claim Universal Credit, avoid the offline benefits trapShaun Holdcroft, the Hyde Group’s regional director, said: “We were looking for a partner who could do two things. Firstly they had to offer something to help our offline social tenants to get on-line, our latest figures show offline rates amongst our tenants are 23 per cent compared to 14 per cent in the rest of the UK.
“Secondly they had to have experience in providing their services in new build developments as hyper-fast reliable broadband is increasingly expected by our new customers.”
While the government has spent millions on improving connectivity in predominantly rural parts of the UK, lacking the basic skills and perhaps more importantly the money needed to get online in the first place, is as detrimental as a lack of access. Point Topic’s report on digital deprivation in England from 2014 argues that education and pricing is as important as access to Internet services.
While Hyperoptic typically targets residents of new build estates, bringing reliable FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) broadband to social housing tenants has been on the company’s roadmap for some time now. Hyperoptic’s managing director Dana Tobak told us in the past that the ISP had plans to bring its services to customers in social housing.
Speaking today, Tobak said: “Hyperoptic is renowned for setting the gold standard in fibre broadband. We passionately believe that reliable, fast broadband access should be the norm, not the exception.
“We are working hard to increase our UK footprint so even more people can enjoy living their online lives without compromise and bridge the digital divide.”
All of Hyperoptic’s service are available to order on a contract-free basis without the need for credit checks.
As well as bringing its full fibre services to social housing tenants, the deal will also see Hyperoptic connect two new build sites in Southwark and Harrow throughout 2016.
As well as London, Hyperoptic’s also recently started connecting customers in Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham and Reading. It’s services are also available in parts of Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.
Hyperoptic’s services start at £24/month for the entry-level 20Mbps down and 1Mbps up service.
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