CityFibre signs Armed Forces Covenant

Fibre optic operator CityFibre has signed the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC), adding that it will provide job and apprenticeship opportunities for armed forces personnel.

The AFC broadly represents a commitment to the fair treatment of service men and women and to working to ensure they are not disadvantaged. CityFibre has said that it intends to recognise and utilise the skills of service people and that it will offer support to those who have been injured and to bereaved families.

Numerous telecoms and broadband providers are already signatories to the AFC. CityFibre’s signing of the covenant comes as it embarks on its £2.5 billion Gigabit City programme. This programme will see the operator seek to rollout a new 1 Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to 5 million premises across 60 UK towns and cities by the end of 2025.

It has so far mobilised across 27 towns and cities, with network construction underway in 16 of those, creating 1,600 jobs so far. CityFibre says that it has identified army reservists and veterans as the “perfect candidates to bring to bear the training they received in their military careers” to support rollout across the UK, adding that: “At its peak, this will see 120,000 premises being made ready for service every month.”

CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “Bringing a new generation of full fibre to towns and cities across the UK is no small task. Infrastructure projects of this scale require a wide range of skills but many of those can be found in the men and women who have trained and served in the Armed Forces.”

“By signing the Armed Forces Covenant, CityFibre will be able to tap into a community of people who are highly skilled, disciplined and have all the qualities we are looking for to help deliver Britain’s full fibre future.”

Mesch added that: “Former forces personnel are already a core part of our team but we look forward to welcoming many more members of the armed forces community into the CityFibre family over the coming years.”