CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has reached a major milestone having passed over 100,000 homes in Coventry, the first time CityFibre has reached this landmark in a single location.
Thousands of residents in Coventry can now enjoy affordable, gigabit-capable reliable full fibre broadband from a range of internet service providers (ISPs) including launch partner Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen, Fibrehop and IDNet, with Giganet expected to join the network soon.
Construction began on the £72.5m project in November 2018 and CityFibre has since laid almost 1,500km of dense full fibre infrastructure across the majority of the city. In Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations report, Coventry was ranked second in the UK for its digital connectivity.
The full fibre network currently services every building run by Coventry City Council, as well as its traffic management systems, CCTV systems and public WiFi across the town centre.
The network has been integral to the delivery of numerous digital events as part of Coventry’s year-long City of Culture and Commonwealth Games events. It also provided ultrafast access to festivalgoers and production teams at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
A report by the consultancy Hatch, commissioned by CityFibre, found Coventry stands to experience significant economic, social and environmental benefits from its new digital infrastructure platform including over £895m in productivity and innovation gains and £197m from a widened workforce over a 15-year period. Enabling 5G rollout alone could drive up to £2bn in positive economic impact.
Leigh Hunt, Area Manager for Coventry at CityFibre, said: “Our rollout has helped transform Coventry’s digital capabilities for both residents and businesses, making it one of the best-connected cities in Britain. Passing 100,000 homes is an incredible feat and a real testament to CityFibre’s mission to create a legacy of reliable connectivity.
“Digital infrastructure has become the cornerstone of modern day-life, and CityFibre’s investment will accelerate economic opportunity to propel Coventry into a new digital-era fit for generations to come.”
Councillor Richard Brown, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “Access to a better and faster digital infrastructure is making a massive difference to local people and businesses.
“Not only is CityFibre installing a fantastic, future-proofed fibre network, it is also making it more competitive for internet suppliers – meaning people and businesses can benefit from some great deals for their internet connections.
“I am really proud of the partnership we have with CityFibre and the benefit this brings for the city.”
Paul Ward, Head of ICT & Digital at Coventry City Council, said: “It’s brilliant that CityFibre has reached this milestone.
“This has directly contributed to Coventry being one of the best digitally connected cities in the country as measured by the Ofcom Connected Nations report. CityFibre is a key partner with the city council in pushing forward our ambitious digital strategy plans and helping establish Coventry as a leading digital city directly supporting the One Coventry Council Plan.”
CityFibre is currently engaged in a £4bn investment programme to roll-out dense full fibre infrastructure to up to 8m homes by 2025. CityFibre is already the largest provider of full fibre in 26 cities and its rollout has now passed more than 1.7m homes. In addition, 1.5m of the homes passed across 60 cities are Ready for Service, enabling residents to get connected in as little as five working days.