Plusnet confirms full fibre launch later this year

Budget broadband provider Plusnet will finally launch a full-fibre product “later this year,” joining rivals in offering customers ultrafast symmetrical speeds.

Plusnet, a low-cost brand of BT, has lagged behind both stablemates and competitors in offering full-fibre broadband. 

This is despite Plusnet being one of the first ISPs to trial Openreach’s full-fibre infrastructure in 2010-11. But those trials ended in 2018, just as Openreach’s rollout of the gigabit-capable network was picking up speed. 

While BT, its brand EE Broadband, and competitors Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, and others launched full-fibre tariffs between 2018 and 2020, Plusnet stalled. 

By last year, Plusnet was one of the few broadband providers on Openreach’s network that didn't have a full-fibre tariff. Rather it has been selling slower fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connections, with download speeds topping out at 66Mbps.

In early 2021, a launch of a Plusnet fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) product appeared imminent. In February, Plusnet Marketing Director Sam Calvert said 2021 was “going to be a big year” for the provider and predicted it would unveil full-fibre tariffs later that year. 

Then in April 2021, ISPreview reported that several customers had been told by Plusnet representatives that full-fibre products would be rolled out that summer. 

They didn’t materialise, but now Plusnet has confirmed to ISPreview that the launch will happen at an unspecified date in 2022.

A spokesperson said: “We are committed to delivering our customers value for money by focusing on reliable broadband and award winning service. We are excited to bring FTTP to our customers later this year. Full Fibre will offer our customers a game changing connection, giving them the benefit of our fastest speeds, our most reliable connection and all at the same great value you would expect from Plusnet.”

When the products are launched, they’ll be available to the around six million (and counting) premises currently reached by Openreach’s FTTP network. Openreach is aiming to reach 25 million addresses by the end of 2026. 

Of course, if you want full-fibre speeds now and are in Openreach’s full-fibre footprint, you can take a tariff from Plusnet’s siblings BT and EE Broadband or a rival also like Sky, TalkTalk, and Vodafone. You may also be served by an alternative full-fibre network like Gigaclear and Hyperoptic.