Hyperoptic enters broadband market with claims of UK's first 1Gbit/s connections

A new internet service provider (ISP) entering the UK market has claimed that it can offer upload and download speeds of 1Gbit/s to homes and businesses in an effort to meet the growing demand for superfast broadband.

Hyperoptic was founded by chairman Boris Ivanovic and managing director Dana Tobak, who were two of the integral staff behind the launch of BE Broadband, which was later sold to O2.

Tobak told V3 that Hyperoptic is able to offer such high speeds as it is coming to the market with the express intention of offering fibre, which allows the firm to outperform much larger rivals with legacy networks.

"There's nothing groundbreaking in the technology we are using but, because we've set out to meet the current and future demands of broadband users with a dedicated fibre system, we can jump ahead of other ISPs," she said.

"The UK is lagging behind in some ways for superfast services, but hopefully by bringing out this service we can really kick-start the market into upping its game, as we did when we launched BE."

Tobak explained that Hyperoptic is currently selling its services into large residential and business buildings where the connection can reach multiple customers, but will offer dedicated connections as the company grows.

"We've already started seeing interest from people wondering if we can connect them to our network, so we will definitely be taking all that onboard. If we can see areas where there is an economic case to rollout, then we will do so," she said.

"We already have a couple of customers that should be going live around October time, and will be looking at launching a dedicated, bespoke business offering in the near future as well."

The service is available only in the London area at present, but Hyperoptic plans to extend to around 20 locations during 2012.

Prices start at £12.50 a month for a 20Mbit/s service, rising to £25 for 100Mbit/s and £50 for 1Gbit/s.

Hyperoptic will no doubt be watched with interest by the likes of Virgin and BT, which currently offer 100Mbit/s and 40Mbit/s as their top speeds respectively.

BT recently confirmed that a further 114 exchanges will be upgraded for these services within the next 12 months.