What is Full Fibre Broadband?

Full Fibre broadband uses fibre-optic cabling to deliver a high-speed internet connection… broadband’s fastest advancement to date!

With its steady rise in adoption in recent years, increasingly competitive business broadband deals have emerged on the market.

In this guide, we’ll be bringing you up to speed (pardon the pun!) with everything you need to know about the shift to the Full Fibre network.

We explore:

● Full Fibre meaning

● How Full Fibre works

● FTTC vs FTTP installations

● The expansion of the UK’s fibre-optic infrastructure

● Getting Full Fibre for your business

If you want to explore your options or understand broadband rates, visit our business broadband help section or request a business broadband quote to get started.

What is Full Fibre broadband?

Full Fibre broadband requires the installation of fibre-optic cables directly to your business premises. Also referred to as ‘fibre to the premises’ (FTTP), it first launched in 2008 - introduced by Virgin Media - at 50 Mbps.

At the time, this was a massive leap in terms of internet bandwidth and speed. Today though, that’s nothing. With advances in broadband and infrastructure, we’re talking 1 Gbps and above.

For small businesses that depend on an agile internet system, Full Fibre internet means lightning-fast internet speeds, reduced downloading times, and increased reliability - all uncompromised no matter how many devices you connect.

And it’s not as expensive as you might think.

So, how does Full Fibre work?

Full Fibre is simple enough to install. It uses plastic or glass cables - as opposed to exclusively relying on traditional copper. Data is transmitted via beams of light, meaning it can travel at ultrafast rates over long distances (but more on this below).

Now, there are two types of fibre broadband available:

● FTTC - part fibre, or fibre to the cabinet

● FTTP - full fibre to the premises

Here’s how they work.

Difference between Part Fibre and Full Fibre broadband

Here, we compare FTTC vs FTTP: how they’re installed, as well as the benefits of each to help you decide which type is right for you.

The ‘Big Switch Off’ & expansion of the UK’s Full Fibre infrastructure

The UK’s ‘Big Switch Off’ is scheduled to take place in January 2027 (originally December 2025), ushering in the new era of business telecoms and connectivity. This will be huge for small businesses, with Openreach already kickstarting the plans to switch off the old copper network in some locations already.

Unlike traditional copper broadband, which uses old-fashioned copper wires to connect multiple homes and businesses to a nearby exchange, fibre-optic cables are direct, meaning less congestion and the ability to carry more data at up to 10x faster speeds.

With this continued development of the UK’s Full Fibre infrastructure, common internet problems - such as buffering, and network congestion - are becoming increasingly a thing of the past.

What’s more, business internet activity that requires more bandwidth, like data storage and video calls, can run more seamlessly - no matter the file sizes or even with stacks of employees in virtual attendance.

Can I get Full Fibre for my business?

Here at Clear Business, our eyes are on the future. Ahead of the ‘PSTN Switch Off’ (or ‘Big Switch Off’), we’re helping UK businesses. These include our best-ever Wi-Fi 6 routers, which deliver higher connection speeds and quality functionality across more devices than ever before.