Community Fibre Offers Free 50Mbps Broadband to Eligible Londoners

Network builder and UK ISP CommunityFibre, which runs a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across London, as well as parts of Surrey and West Sussex, has today joined forces with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to provide “free access to 100% full fibre broadband” to eligible Londoners struggling to get online.

The new initiative, which is supported by Jobcentre Plus, will see those eligible for the service receive 12-months of free full fibre broadband at speeds of 50Mbps. The offer is open to DWP customers who are “disabled, carers or have been in receipt of benefits for more than three months“.

The catch is that this new offer is only exclusively available across six Jobcentre Plus services within the Woolwich, Peckham, Tower Hamlets, Harlesden, Barnsbury and Finsbury Park sites in London only. But for those who are not eligible, Community Fibre also offers its own 35Mbps social broadband tariff at £12.50/month, although technically this isn’t a social tariff because it’s available to everybody covered by their network (not just those on state benefits).

According to the ISP, 1-in-10 Londoners (11%) say they have missed out on job opportunities, or experienced disruption during virtual job interviews, because of an unreliable internet connection. In addition, 15% of Londoners report that they cannot access basic services such as GP appointments, online banking, or government services because of poor broadband connectivity.

Mims Davies, DWP Minister of State, said:

“I am thrilled by how working with Community Fibre, DWP are able to give so many Londoners free, high speed internet for the next year.

Whether it’s interviewing for a job or accessing vital services, decent internet is necessary for all of us to get on with day to day lives. If you’re interested and think you might be eligible for this key support, speak to your local Jobcentre today.

This comes on top of our unprecedented £108b support package, which has prevented 1.3 million people falling into absolute poverty reflecting our commitment to help the British people through challenging times”.

We should point out that it’s by no means the first time that CF have done some kind of “free broadband” promotion (examples here and here) and sometimes even giving it away can prove to be unusually difficult (people don’t always trust “free” things). As part of its roll-out, the London-based fibre provider has also connected more than 600 community spaces with a free 1Gbps full fibre connection.