Alnwick IT specialists benefiting from stay-at-home demand for better broadband

Home schooling combined with many more people working from home has put more pressure on wi-fi connections than ever before.

Good news then for Alnwick-based broadband specialist Alncom which has received investment funding to expand its footprint across the region.

"It sounds bad but it’s been a wonderful time for us,” admitted John Parker, Alncom’s community engagement officer.

"Home schooling and working has made people very aware of their broadband and we have been able to reap the benefit of that.”

Alncom, based on the Cawledge Business Park, now has around 25 staff and is likely to be recruiting more engineers as demand grows.

"We specialise in rural broadband,” explained John. “We go to places where other network builders like OpenReach don’t.”

Traditional rural broadband connections often struggle to cope with the simultaneous demands of streaming videos or music, with multiple devices and appliances logged on at the same time.

However, Alncom delivers ultrafast and superfast broadband so everyone within a home or small business is able to do what they want online without any annoying buffering.

It has completed schemes in remote areas of the Ingram Valley and College Valley, as well as rural communities such as Ellingham and Fallodon, and will shortly be carrying out a project in Alnham.

"We’ve got places like Newham and Ellingham that now have some of the fastest connection speeds in the country,” said John.

The company has a fleet of off-road, go anywhere vehicles, including a cutting edge driverless ‘cable plow’ to rapidly install the latest fibre optic cables.

A £2.6 billion government scheme to roll out superfast broadband to ‘commercially unviable’ parts of the UK has reportedly sparked a surge in home values of up to £3,500, according to an Ipsos Mori study.

“I’m not convinced it’s possible to prove that but, without doubt, having a decent broadband speed is a major factor if you’re looking to buy or rent out a property,” said John. “It’s also very important for the holiday let market so people can keep in touch with the world.”

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