Fibrus & ACOME partnership boosts rural broadband in Northern regions

With a significant boost to connectivity in Northern England and Northern Ireland, thousands of rural homes and businesses can now avail themselves of hyperfast full-fibre broadband, courtesy of a multi-million-pound partnership between Fibrus and ACOME Group. ACOME Group's state-of-the-art cabling solutions have helped Fibrus speed up its fibre installations to reach 354,000 premises passed across rural and regional areas of Cumbria and Northern Ireland. The broadband speeds available to the connected properties can reach up to 2 Gbps.

ACOME Group's cabling solutions have not only accelerated Fibrus's fibre installation efforts but have also resulted in a future-proofed network, a decrease in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and a reduced carbon footprint.

Andrea Garcia, Director of ACOME Group UK, expressed the company's satisfaction with the role they played in bringing ultra-fast, reliable connectivity to Cumbria and Northern Ireland. Highlighting the superior benefits of their 60-fibre cabling's technical innovation, she mentioned that its PIA-approved status allowed Fibrus to utilise existing poles and ducts without digging or erecting new ones.

To expedite fibre rollout, Fibrus co-developed a 60-fibre cable with ACOME Group, an increment from the standard 48-fibre cables available in the market. The cable's 12-fibre modularity mirrors the architecture of the existing fibre infrastructure across the UK. Manufactured in Normandy, France, the 60-fibre ULW cable was supplied cost-effectively and swiftly to Fibrus.

Neil Burrows, Procurement Director at Fibrus, lauded the collaboration with ACOME Group, attributing it to reduced cable supply lead times. This has, he stated, kept pace with the high speed of their network delivery and ensured consistent connectivity for customers across the UK. He further acknowledged the efficient installation process, which allowed residents in remote towns and villages across Cumbria and Northern Ireland to enjoy faster speeds.

To enhance deployment speed, the Fibrus street cabinets were pre-cabled with an optical distribution solution, ITOM-V3, at ACOME's manufacturing plant in Brittany. This approach eliminated the need to splice at the cabinet, reducing the risk of project schedules changing and budgets not being met.

The collaboration continues with Fibrus, which is beginning trials of ACOME Group's 60-fibre cable constructed with nanomodule technology, which further reduces the TCO and carbon footprint of deployments. Notably, the connection of rural homes and businesses in Cumbria has been made possible with the support of the Project Gigabit broadband scheme endorsed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Project Stratum, a GBP £197 million contract, is focused on connecting 85,000 hard-to-reach properties across Northern Ireland.

In its ongoing efforts, Fibrus Networks is investing in excess of GBP £500m to bring full-fibre broadband to homes and businesses in towns and villages across Northern Ireland and Northern England.