CityFibre strikes deal with City of Wolverhampton Council

Wolverhampton will become the latest city to receive full-fibre connectivity from CityFibre.

 

The altnet will connect 170 public sector sites as part of the deal, such as schools, libraries, and public offices. The city council is hopeful that this investment will help ‘future proof’ their digital infrastructure, and that their focus on improving educational resources will help bridge the growing digital divide.

 

This rollout will be supported by £4.9 million of public funding as part of the Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) scheme, which was launched by the UK government in March 2018.

 

“Increasingly local authorities around the country are realising the potential of full-fibre to transform places like Wolverhampton into modern, fully connected, digital cities,” said CityFibre chief commercial officer Rob Hamlin.  “By choosing a full-fibre network, local authorities will be able future proof vital public sector infrastructure for generations to come.” 

 

Work is scheduled to begin in Wolverhampton in March.

 

The new network will not be alone in the city, however, with Virgin Media’s 516 Mbps-capable network already active and available for the majority of the city’s residents and businesses. 

 

CityFIbre is expanding rapdily in recent months. Last month, they finally acquired FibreNation from TalkTalk in a deal that had been delayed by political uncertainty. Its purchase is huge news for the altnet, almost doubling it in size, and will go some way to supporting its aggressive rollout strategy across the rest of 2020. 

 

Currently, CityFibre’s network has already reached Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Coventry, Huddersfield, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, and Stirling as part of its Phase One rollout. 

 

Edinburgh was the latest to be added to this list, with CityFibre last week announcing that their £100 million 1 Gbps-capable FTTH network in the Scottish capital had gone live. This citywide project is supported by their partnership with Vodafone, struck in 2017, which aims to reach 5 million homes and business by 2025.

 

With such a rapid upscale, CityFibre is becoming a major contender for BT and Virgin Media.