TalkTalk Trial FTTP Broadband with Freedom Fibre in Cheshire UPDATE

In a surprise development we’ve spotted that UK ISP TalkTalk has partnered up with a new network operator called Freedom Fibre, which seems set to deploy a 500Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network across the large village of Culcheth in Warrington (Cheshire, England).

The village of Culcheth is home to a population of around 11,500 people, although like many locations it doesn’t yet have any significant coverage of gigabit-capable broadband connectivity (there’s a tiny patch of Openreach’s FTTP around Medway Road, but that’s all). However, Virgin Media’s network is widely present in the surrounding communities, although for some reason they’ve never extended into Culcheth.

Until now TalkTalk has been primarily focused on working with Cityfibre (formerly via FibreNation) and Openreach as their two main suppliers for “full fibre” broadband connectivity. But the move to link up with a third operator for the aforementioned village, particularly one that is so new and previously unknown to us, has made for quite an interesting surprise.

The development, which was highlighted to ISPreview.co.uk by LeafNWS, reveals that TalkTalk has already setup a ‘register your interest‘ style page for the project (here). “TalkTalk, in partnership with Freedom Fibre are rolling out a 100% full fibre network in Culcheth. The new network will mean you’ll get access to average broadband speeds of up to 500Mb/s, compared to the roughly 50Mb/s average in the village now,” states the page.

As for the Manchester-based Freedom Fibre, we couldn’t find a website for the operator but they do have a record on Companies House. According to that, FF was only incorporated on 9th November 2020 and their nature of business is listed as “construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications.” The operator was setup with a single share worth £1 and its sole Director is Neil Mcarthur.

Mr Mcarthur has a long history of working with various telecoms and technology companies, such as the Manchester Tech Trust, Nameco, Opal and many others. But most interestingly he was previously also listed as a Director of both TalkTalk Technology and TalkTalk Communications, until he resigned from both positions on 20th September 2010.

At present we can see quite a bit of telecoms work going on in Culcheth itself, but all of that is being done by Openreach (clearing blocked ducts, building new poles and spine cables etc.). Some of that could be Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) for another ISP (i.e. FF), but since the operator did announced that location as part of last year’s “rural” plan then we think it’ll be for their own FTTP (here).

All of this is occurring at around the same time as TalkTalk are only just beginning the process of accepting a £1.1bn takeover proposal from Toscafund (here). We have asked TalkTalk to comment but have yet to receive a response.

UPDATE 3:31pm

We’ve had TalkTalk’s response.

A TalkTalk spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“As part of our mission to bring full fibre to as many people as quickly as possible, and at the best possible value, we are always speaking to a whole range of FTTP builders. It’s important that consumers and business across the UK benefit from strong competition.”

We also note that the related page on their website, which we linked earlier, is now blank.