New wireless 4G broadband service available in capital initially with nationwide rollout planned
UK Broadband is targeting Central London fixed-line broadband customers with a new ‘plug and play’ 4G broadband offering that will offer average speeds of 30Mbps.
Relish, from the owners of Now broadband, is available from today and will go after consumers and SMEs which the firm says suffer from a ‘landline tax’, where they are forced to take fixed-line services to have an internet connection.
Its network will cover North to South London from Shoreditch to Southwark, and East to West London from Canary Wharf to Kensington. The firm, owned by Hong Kong telco PCCW Group, has only built the network in these parts of the capital so far, but will expand out into other boroughs, and eventually nationwide. UK Broadband chief executive officer Nick James (pictured) said at the launch this morning, that the firm had only deployed 1/6 of its 4G spectrum and would increase coverage in line with demand.
Home customers can receive speeds up to 65Mbps for £20 per month, with no data limits. The Huawei-designed equipment is free for those taking out a 12 month contract, or £50 for 30-day contract customers, and customers need to simply plug it into a socket to get online.
A portable mobile solution will 1GB of data for £10 per month, with a £5 discount for those taking it with the home offering. When travelling to parts of London and the country where the Relish network is not available it will use Three’s 3G network.
There are also two separate enterprise offerings – one for SMEs up to 20 people in size and a further enterprise product that will offer speeds of up to 1Gbps initially.
The firm currently operates under the Now Broadband and has began transferring these customers onto the Relish brand.
