Bath-based full-fibre broadband provider Truespeed is aiming to more than double the size of its network this year having achieved record growth in 2022.
The firm expanded its footprint by 25,000 properties across the South West last year – taking the total to 60,000 – connecting 13,000 customers and hiring more than 80 new employees.
This year it is targeting more than 120,000 properties while also doubling the number of connected customers.
It also plans to add further to its workforce, which reached 225 employees in December.
Truespeed was launched in Bath in 2014 as a community interest company with a mission to provide ultrafast, ultra-reliable broadband across the region.
Having become one of the area’s fastest-growing companies, last year it received £100m from Aviva Investors to widen its reach.
The investment, the largest funding since Truespeed’s launch, was the second from the global asset management arm of UK-based insurance giant Aviva, following on from £75m in 2017.
The firm builds and owns its network, making it independent of ‘household name’ internet providers.
As a result, it sees itself as a challenger brand, competing against traditional large providers by offering more reliable broadband at guaranteed faster speeds, with fairer prices and far better levels of customer service.
This includes a Bath-based customer service team that, in most cases, responds to customers seeking support within 60 seconds – a figure Truespeed aims to improve on.
Last month it extended its price freeze, introduced last May, until the end of this year and introduced a new ‘basic’ package to support financially vulnerable customers in a move it says will provide some respite from the cost of living crisis.
Truespeed CEO James Lowther said: “2022 was a fantastic year for the business in terms of setting higher ambitions and increasing the pace of our growth while maintaining high customer satisfaction scores and community engagement across the South West.
“Our network is growing fast and our goal is to more than double the size of our network in 2023 and continue investing across the region.
“To help achieve this, we also plan to take advantage of the first-class talent pool in the South West and will step up hiring.”
Bath areas that benefited from Truespeed’s network investment last year included Peasedown St John, Midsomer Norton, Keynsham, Saltford and Radstock – where it spent £8m – and Bathwick, Widcombe and Combe Down – where £4m was spent.
James said that while the statistics and figures made for happy reading, they were only part of the Truespeed’s story.
“We want to build a truly better broadband business by putting our customers and communities at the heart of everything we do – by freezing our prices during a cost of living crisis, by offering free connections to local schools and community centres and by offering much better customer service. This is our promise to the South West,” he added.
