COMMUNITY FIBRE
through which it connects community centres to gigabit broadband for free . To date , 300 such centres have benefitted from this .
“ We ' ve got many more planned in the coming months ,” reveals Brooman . “ That ' s 1GB internet access available to everybody who uses those centres . It helps bring communities together in all sorts of ways – for training , entertainment , and social interaction . It ’ s all about digital inclusion . It ' s a really good part of our mission to bring better broadband to all of London .
“ The scheme is advertised heavily by housing associations and local authorities , as well as by landlords and also on our website . You can go to the Community Connect part of the website and apply to have broadband provided to your
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Number of employees community centre and everywhere in the area . Then we ' ll add you to the list , and we ' ll come and connect you .”
Making huge strides on sustainability Sustainability is also hugely important to Community Fibre . Evidence of this can be seen in the big strides the company has been making , with Brooman revealing that it has a batch of 20 fully electric vehicles arriving “ very soon .”
“ We ’ re well on our way towards moving to an electric fleet . They ' ll be replacing traditional diesel vans ,” Brooman says . He admits that a barrier to a wider adoption of EVs is lack of infrastructure around charging , but this too is something Community Fibre is seeking to address . Brooman says : “ Community Fibre co-founder Tim Stranack is working with local authorities and landlords on a daily basis , seeking to install charging points around our network , for use by our engineers . For us , it ' s vital that the infrastructure is in place to enable the charging of our vans during the working day .”
Brooman says Community Fibre would like to make its entire fleet electric but that , currently , the limited range of such vehicles is a sticking point .
“ Many of our engineers work and live in London , where you can ' t necessarily charge a van , because you might not have a driveway to charge it on . Infrastructure for EVs is going to take more than people having a private charging point on their driveway ,” he explains .
Brooman adds that , although currently unable to provide a fully electric fleet because of a lack of infrastructure , he believes the company will have made “ a significant move ” to making the majority of its fleet electric “ within the next four years ”.
30 July 2022