Eastbourne Borough Council Leader launches Lightning Fibre’s first retail unit
Lightning Fibre, founded in Eastbourne in 2018 and based in Polegate since 2021, has opened its first retail shop in Eastbourne at the Enterprise Centre, next to Eastbourne railway station.
The local broadband operator and Internet Service Provider (ISP) has recently celebrated a 10,000 customer connections milestone, and launched in Brighton and Hove, Worthing and Lancing in July. Cllr Stephen Holt, leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, officially opened the new outlet, assisted by Lightning Fibre’s chief commercial officer, Rob Reaks, and The Enterprise Centre's commercial director Denise Harwood.
Cllr Holt commented, “I am delighted to welcome Lightning Fibre to the Enterprise Shopping Centre; this marks the first time in the company’s six years of operating from Eastbourne that customers can visit a physical store, which makes Lightning Fibre more accessible for people wishing to switch to full fibre broadband. We wish them every success!”.
A lack of competition, due to an Openreach monopoly, had left the UK one of the worst connected countries in Europe. Unfair pricing, bad service and poor practices had become synonymous with one of the most important utilities for our economy and our day to day lives. “Altnets” (alternative networks) are critical to breaking the Openreach monopoly and companies like Lightning Fibre are using private investment to update Britain for the digital age.
Deploying full fibre networks stimulates growth. It enables businesses to operate efficiently and supports remote working. Full fibre networks are also more energy-efficient than old, copper networks. Full fibre networks consume less power and require less maintenance, reducing the associated carbon footprint.
Matt Goacher, Lightning Fibre’s Head of Sales, said, “We know that some people prefer a face to face conversation, especially when they have questions or reservations about switching to a new technology that they do not understand. We hope the retail unit will provide a space for people to find out more about fibre full broadband and encourage more people to switch to this faster, more reliable and greener communication technology.”
The shop, located on the first floor of the Enterprise Shopping Centre, is open Monday to Friday from 9am until 5pm, but closes on weekends, bank and public holidays. The sales and tech support teams are available by phone every day (except Christmas Day) from 8am to 8pm.
Lightning Fibre offers symmetric full fibre with speeds from 150Mbps up to over 2000Mbps, guaranteed at the modem. Business broadband packages are available, with speeds up to 10Gbps.
Lightning Fibre offers a £15 per month social tariff for people on means-tested benefits, with a 30 day rolling contract and no credit checks enforced on customers. The company was named ‘Best Consumer ISP (with fewer than 50,000 customers)' in November 2023 at the Internet Service Providers’ Association Awards, and is rated excellent on Trustpilot.
Photo: Lightning Fibre’s sales team, CCO Rob Reaks, and Enterprise Shopping Centre commercial director Denise Harwood with Cllr Stephen Holt.
.jpg)