CityFibre network begins Cambridge rollout

The first customers in Cambridge have been connected to CityFibre’s Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network. The network will eventually reach 60,000 premises in the city, and represents a major expansion on CityFibre’s existing Dark Fibre network.

Despite initially aiming to begin connecting its first residential customers in the summer of this year, the rollout has been delayed until autumn. The first homes, however, have now started to go live, via UK internet service provider (ISP) Vodafone’s Gigafast Broadband package.

The rollout in Cambridge is part of CityFibre’s wider £2.5 billion scheme to connect 1 million UK premises to its network by the end of 2021, in phase 1 of the strategy. Phase 2 will see the operator seek to connect a further 5 million premises across 60 UK towns and cities by the end of 2025.

144,000 premises have been connected through the scheme so far, with the rollout continuing to ramp up across the UK. Cambridge is among the cities in phase 1 of the plan to see its residents connected to FTTH, joining the likes of Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Coventry, Huddersfield, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Stirling.

The development in Cambridge began in May of this year and is forecast to finish by the end of 2021. Much of the development so far has focused on the north east of the city.

When work began in May 2019, Charles Kitchin, CityFibre’s City Manager for Cambridge, said: “This investment in Cambridge comes at a key time for the city. Digital investment has the ability to transform businesses and communities and recent research estimates that over the next 15 years, full fibre could unlock £470m for the city’s economy. Full fibre can also attract inward investment and boost the local economy for years to come.”

“As the project moves forward, we want to work with as many organisations as possible to raise awareness of our plans for Cambridge and ensure everyone understands the long-term importance of reliable, ultrafast and limitless broadband.”