City-centric fibre optic ISP Hyperoptic has signed a new deal that will see their 1Gbps broadband network (FTTP/B) being extended to cater for SACO’s stock of serviced apartments across the United Kingdom, which exist in many of the same urban areas as the operator’s existing network.
The deal doesn’t look likely to require much additional work because Hyperoptic’s network is already live in many of SACO’s existing properties across London, including SACO The Cannon, Leman Locke and Fitzrovia. Installation is also taking place across its portfolio of serviced apartments in Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Farnborough, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham and Reading (list of SACO’s UK apartments).
The ISP’s fibre optic network current covers 350,000 premises and they’ve recently secured another investment of £100 million, which should help them to reach 500,000 urban premises by the end of 2019, followed by 2 million in 2022 (here) and they have an aspiration towards reaching 5 million by around 2025.
Ben Harper, SACO’s Commercial Director, said:
“We pride ourselves on giving business travellers the best travel experience in the market. Achieving this means going beyond words and giving our customers a true point of difference. We knew that access to hyperfast broadband speeds would delight our customers, so we chose to partner with the company that is synonymous with the fibre gold standard.
We do not charge our residents extra to access the WiFi – so they can start streaming and surfing as soon as they walk into their apartment.”
A recent study by Netgear revealed that 67% of business guests say they would not return to a hotel that offered inadequate broadband service. A similar survey by Hotels.com found that 49% of business travellers viewed free WiFi as the deciding factor when it came to their choice of accommodation.
Obviously it goes without saying that business travellers need a good connection and there’s no doubt that Hyperoptic’s top 1Gbps package, which is what the press release seems to indicate will be used, should definitely cater for those needs and then some.