Matthew Hare (CEO Gigaclear), Graham Shelton (Northmoor Broadband Team & Parish Council chairman), Stuart Cope (representing the Red Lion shareholders) and the Rt Hon David Cameron MP

In an event celebrating both the purchase and reopening of Northmoor’s Red Lion as a community-owned pub and the activation of the new fibre to the premises broadband network, our MP, the Rt Hon David Cameron, paid us a visit and officially switched on the network.

Gigaclear’s CEO, Matthew Hare, and members of the broadband team and village residents were also joined by video link by Malcolm Corbett of the Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) and Dana Pressman Tobak of Hyperoptic, another FTTP ISP focused on deployments in cities.

David Cameron and Matthew Hare (Gigaclear) speak to Malcom Corbett (INCA), Dana Pressman Tobak (Hyperoptic) via Skype

The project is now mainly completed, with only the relatively straightforward task of connecting the caravans at Bablockhythe Caravan Park remaining before the project is complete. A large number of residents are now connected and enjoying the service, with takeup of the service expected to increase as installations are completed in the coming months.

The West Oxfordshire press release accompanying this news can be found here. Coverage of the event was also carried by the Telegraph, as well as Cable.co.uk and ISPreview. The Witney Gazette has covered the news in their leader column.

We’ll try and keep this post up to date with any further media coverage.