• The new route runs from Colchester through Old Heath, Abberton and Peldon before crossing The Strood to West Mersea
  • With the main route live, Amphora now has to turn network reach into individual installations and active customers

The fact

Amphora Connect has switched on its full-fibre network in West Mersea after completing an 18km route from Colchester city centre to Mersea Island. The fibre runs through Old Heath, Abberton and Peldon before crossing The Strood, the tidal causeway linking the island with the mainland. The project was jointly funded by Amphora Connect and Mersea-based engineering company Birch Technical Services, which also worked on the build.

Around 4,000 homes and businesses are now within reach of the network. Amphora offers residential full-fibre broadband as well as business services including dedicated connections and leased lines, with Mersea Homes announced as the first business customer on the new route.

Amphora Connect is part of Amphora Group, which is owned by Colchester City Council. The operator designs, builds and runs its own full-fibre network across Colchester and nearby communities, with the West Mersea launch extending that footprint onto Mersea Island.

The assessment

With the 18km route now live, Amphora’s work moves from building the main network to connecting individual properties. Homes and businesses may sit within the new footprint, but some still need ducting or other installation work before service can be activated. The network can therefore reach around 4,000 premises without all of them being ready to connect immediately.

Amphora now has to turn that coverage into working connections. That means processing orders, completing the final link into each property and activating customers, with more work required at addresses that fall outside a standard installation. The useful measure is no longer how far the fibre runs, but how many premises can actually be brought into service.

For BTW readers, the main route has opened West Mersea to Amphora’s network, but the build is only valuable when customers can use it. Activation numbers and the amount of extra work needed at individual properties will show how quickly the new footprint becomes an operating access network.

What to watch

Watch customer activations across West Mersea, particularly how many premises need additional installation work before service can begin. New business customers after Mersea Homes and any published take-up figures will show how quickly Amphora is turning the completed route into active connections. Further network extensions would show where the operator plans to build next.