Southampton City Council live with gigabit broadband from Hyperoptic

Thousands of Southampton City Council tenants now have access to gigabit broadband, which is over 12x faster than the UK average. The service has been provided by Hyperoptic, a leading full fibre broadband provider.

Hyperoptic expanded its network to Southampton in 2016. Since then, it has steadily grown its footprint across the city via connecting private sector properties. By agreeing with Southampton Council to allow the installation of its network into council-owned properties, Hyperoptic is now able to connect social housing properties in the area as well.

Hyperoptic has extended its network to 4,000 Southampton City Council homes, with another 2,000 set to be added soon. It has also connected 14 community centres, where it will offer the general public free access to its gigabit-enabled broadband service.

Hyperoptic provides gigabit broadband speeds by bringing its fibre all the way into the property. Because of this full fibre approach, users do not have to worry about peak-time slowdowns, buffering or frustrating timeouts, and can benefit from much faster, symmetrical broadband. HD movies can be downloaded in 45 seconds and 300MB of photos can be uploaded in less than three seconds.

Councillor Satvir Kaur, Cabinet Member for Homes and Culture, Southampton City Council, said: “With more people working and learning from home, and needing a reliable internet connection to stay in touch with friends and family, an advanced digital infrastructure has never been more important. I’m therefore very grateful to Hyperoptic for making this service available to our tenants, investing in Southampton and supporting our ambition to become a leading digital city.”

Liam McAvoy, Senior Director of Business Development, Hyperoptic: “Fast and reliable broadband has the power to change lives and having access to it is an opportunity that we believe everybody deserves. We’re committed to bridging the digital divide and setting the best practice for the broadband sector – by following through on what we say and getting people connected, no matter whether they’re in a private or social home.”

Earlier this year, Hyperoptic launched a ‘Digital Connectivity Social Value Calculator’ to equip councils with a tool that quantifies, in monetary terms, the impact of rolling out full fibre broadband. The calculator demonstrates that Hyperoptic is creating over £1.2million of social value through the rollout of their network across Southampton.