A RAPIDLY-growing internet provider has opened a training centre in Hampshire.

Giganet’s full-fibre training facility at Fareham will include a recreation of a home broadband installation for staff to train on.

Giganet has grown from 25 to 139 employees in the space of 10 months and it plans to have 200 staff by the end of the year, with an apprentice programme due to be launched.

It says internet service providers (ISPs) are competing to recruit full-fibre installation engineers when there are not enough to meet demand.

From July, it will recruit and train its own engineers, who will be able to work in their own local areas.

Jarlath Finnegan, chief executive of Giganet, said: “To create a dedicated space to train people in our business is invaluable. Our mission is to become the best ISP in the UK, and to do that we have to be utterly confident that we’re providing the best service possible.

“The training centre is essential to our apprenticeship programme and future hiring plans to give our staff a comprehensive understanding of the equipment we’re installing and the gigabit capability it provides - helping every employee, regardless of department or role, to understand the business and customer better.”

The Giganet training centre will provide new and existing staff from all areas of the business with opportunities to learn what their technicians and engineers are doing on site. The training aims to help customer-facing staff better understand the customer’s transition to full-fibre, the company says.

Staff will see the whole process, from laying cables to making repairs, at ground level or overhead.

The company, based at Parkway in Fareham, is providing gigabit-cable Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) broadband across the UK, with its own building of full fibre networks focused on poorly-served areas of Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex.

The business’s recent growth has been fuelled by an injection last year of £250million from investment firm Fern Trading.

The training centre also includes breakout areas and video conferencing facilities in two training rooms.

Giganet’s home customers can get speeds of up to 900 megabits per second (Mbps), with business services up to three gigabits per second (Gbps).