Welsh full fibre telco – Ogi – has reached two thirds of its planned first phase rollout with one in every five premises now signed up to one of its home or business services.
Kick starting its ambitious FTTP [Fibre to the Premises] rollout in 2021, Ogi propelled onto the UK telcomms scene with a £200million plan to bring full fibre to south Wales much sooner than planned by the incumbent operators.
The business shifted its approach at the beginning of 2024 to focus on customer take-up – attracting thousands to the full fibre switch thanks to a new competitive pricing and shorter-term contracts strategy.
Gaining first mover advantage in places like Pembrokeshire and the post-industrial towns and villages of the south Wales valleys, the fresh approach has served the provider well, with a sector-leading high customer satisfaction score to match. This comes following a targeted period of investment in back office operations and customer service, with new 7-day opening hours and refreshed online resources among the changes introduced earlier this year.
Amid rising competition from the UK’s largest telcos, increasing build costs and other market pressures, the Gigabit-capable provider continues to see customer adoption increase, with one in five joining the network in 2023, with places like Pembrokeshire seeing double that rate of growth.
Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allwright, said: “With one in five of the premises we can serve already signed up to Ogi, it’s clear to see we’re investing in the right places. Passing the 100,000 premises milestone – two thirds of our initial plan, completed – and seeing the massive benefits from this technology as adoption increases is encouraging.
“Putting our ISP operations first since the start of the year, and harnessing the build machine as a tool for growth has allowed us to take a breath, and make sure we’re doing the right things for our customers and long-term sustainability. While we might not be as visible installing new network as we had been – we’ve been busy in the background, supporting our existing customer base and welcoming thousands more every month.
“We’re building something really exciting here at Ogi; and the people of Wales are invested in our journey to create a real challenger brand – one that Wales can be proud of, and others are already envious of.”The network is currently being rolled out in around 60 towns and villages across south Wales, with thousands of customers joining the full fibre ISP every month. The Wales-based telco offers broadband and phone services for home and a suite of IT, connectivity and security options for business, with a new wholesale opportunity recently added to the portfolio for high capacity users.
