South West broadband provider sees major growth

By Nicky Godding

16 May 2023

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TRUE Speed, Bristol and Bath Please credit PaulBox

Truespeed, an independent broadband provider based in Bath, has reported a storming start to 2023.

The full-fibre broadband provider has extended its footprint by 25 per cent in the first five months of the year, now offering ultrafast broadband to 75,000 properties in the South West. The figures demonstrate a 364 per cent growth in Truespeed’s network rollout, in comparison to the same period last year.

This year the company has invested an additional £6 million into its home city of Bath, expanding the network to properties in Batheaston, Bathampton and Bathford alongside notable landmarks such as Pulteney Road and Henrietta Park.

Truespeed has also extended its coverage further into rural and semi-urban towns and villages across the region, as part of a £24 million investment in Somerset and Wiltshire. The company’s ultrafast broadband can now also be accessed by 27,500 properties across Frome, Faulkland, Trowbridge, Mark, Woolavington and Walton.

The provider has also seen further growth this year, now connecting more than 15,000 customers across the region, an increase of 15 per cent and employing 270 local team members.

This increase has been driven by the company’s investment in full-fibre infrastructure in the region. Truespeed has continued, at pace, to build and own its proprietary network across the region, offering an independent local alternative to the big household-name broadband providers.

The news of the network’s expansion in the early part of 2023 comes as Truespeed is ranked 53 in the ORESA Growth Index, which lists the top 100 fastest growing businesses in the UK.

Hitting these considerable milestones so early in the year puts Truespeed’s rollout on target to meet the company’s ambitions to double its network footprint and customer numbers in 2023.

James Lowther, chief executive, Truespeed, said: “The South West is one of the UK’s most underserved regions for broadband and we are on a mission to bridge the digital divide and deliver high quality, reliable broadband at affordable pricing to communities across the region.”

Founded in 2014 to bring ultrafast broadband to rural, semi-urban and suburban areas across the South West, Truespeed has now passed over 75,000 homes across the region all of which are ready for connection, a total investment of £134 million. Local residents and businesses in Glastonbury, Street, Shepton Mallet, Wells, Portishead, Clevedon, Keynsham, Saltford, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Peasedown, Nailsea, Bradley Stoke, Patchway, Stoke Gifford, Almondsbury, Thornbury, Uphill and Chipping Sodbury can now benefit from full-fibre broadband.

The company also designs connectivity solutions for large businesses and enterprises requiring ultrafast broadband and industrial-grade resilience. Client companies include Thatchers, Yeo Valley and Charlie Bigham’s.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.