Amphora Connect's full-fibre network went live in West Mersea on 14 August, reaching around 4,000 homes and businesses. The speeds, the prices and the caveats.

Full-fibre broadband is now live in West Mersea. Amphora Connect, the broadband company owned by Colchester City Council, switched on its network on the island on 14 August, and says it reaches around 4,000 homes and businesses. (Amphora Connect, 14 August 2026)

The build involved an 18km fibre route from Colchester city centre to Mersea Island. According to Amphora, it runs through Old Heath, Abberton and Peldon before crossing The Strood, the tidal causeway that links the island to the mainland. The work was done jointly with Birch Technical Services, an engineering firm based on Mersea itself, which also built the local network on the island and is a co-investor in the project.

Schematic of the 18km fibre route from Colchester city centre through Old Heath, Abberton and Peldon, across The Strood, to West Mersea
The route of the new 18km fibre link, as described by Amphora Connect. Not to scale. Graphic by The Colchester Post.

What it costs

Amphora Connect publishes its residential prices, which is more than several national providers do without a postcode. The advertised tariffs are:

Speed Price from Contract
150Mbps £35 a month 24 months
500Mbps £40 a month 24 months
1,000Mbps £42 a month 24 months
2,500Mbps £65 a month 24 months

All four are sold as symmetrical, meaning the upload speed matches the download speed, which copper and part-fibre connections do not offer. The company says there are no mid-contract price rises and that standard installation is free. (Amphora Connect residential services)

Read the installation definition before assuming yours is free. Amphora counts an install as standard only if:

  • there is a connection point on a telegraph pole within 50 metres of the property, or
  • there is a pavement chamber with clear, usable ducting leading to it, and
  • the fibre is terminated on the inside of a front wall

Internal cable runs beyond that are not included. Anything falling outside the definition may be charged. On an island with a fair number of older and detached properties, that is worth checking first.

Two figures worth treating carefully

The council’s own announcement, published four days after the operator’s, says the network offers “download and upload speeds of up to 10Gbps”. (Colchester City Council, 18 August 2026) Amphora’s own launch notice puts it differently: its standard customer routers support up to 2.5Gbps, and the fastest residential package it sells is 2,500Mbps. The 10Gbps figure describes what the network is built to carry, not what a household can currently buy.

The council release also states that Amphora Connect has “laid more than 90,000km of fibre in urban areas”. We have not been able to reconcile that with anything the company publishes: 90,000km would be more than twice around the world. Amphora’s own tenth-anniversary notice describes its city-centre network as more than 220 connection points, supporting a CCTV estate of almost 550 cameras across Colchester and Clacton. (Amphora Connect, 18 August 2026) We are reporting the figure as the council published it, and flagging that it does not match the operator’s own account of its network.

Who owns it

Amphora Connect is part of Amphora Group, wholly owned by Colchester City Council, so profits return to the council rather than a shareholder. The group reported in July that Amphora Connect had invested nearly £500,000 in Colchester’s digital infrastructure over the past four to five years. More than £200,000 of that came in 2025/26. Mersea Island was named among the locations. (Amphora Group, 12 July 2026)

Amphora describes the wider network this way:

  • it runs from Northern Gateway Sports Park to Mersea Island, and from Stanway to Wivenhoe
  • it connects directly to Telehouse in London’s Docklands, a major internet exchange

The council’s release adds that the network has capacity to reach almost 30,000 homes and businesses in Colchester and nearby villages as the rollout continues.

The first business customer on the island is Mersea Homes, the family-run housebuilder.

What it means for you

If you live in West Mersea. Availability is per address, not per village, so check your own postcode on the Amphora Connect availability page before assuming the street is connected. Being in the 4,000 does not mean the fibre is already at your door.

If you are in an existing contract. Switching early usually means an early termination charge. Check your current end date first. Amphora’s contracts run 24 months, so the decision locks in for two years.

Compare before you switch. Amphora is not the only full-fibre network in the Colchester area. It runs an open-access model, and in March 2025 it announced that the Swedish operator OpenInfra had built the local network for some 3,000 households in Lexden over Amphora’s wholesale infrastructure. (Amphora Connect, 19 March 2025) Check what else serves your address rather than assuming one network is the only option.

If you run a business on the island. Amphora is offering FTTP, dedicated connectivity and leased lines. Contact details are on its West Mersea page.

Elsewhere on the site, Colchester planning news covers what is being built across the district, and Colchester roadworks and travel tracks closures including the B1025 to the island.

Sources