CityFibre gets to work on bringing full-fibre to Cambridgeshire

CityFibre has begun 2022 by breaking ground on a new £5m infrastructure roll-out in the area of March in Cambridgeshire, after ending 2021 by announcing an 800Gbps communications ring to serve 23 cities and six “super core” sites as part of a multi-terabit, national backbone project.

The company, which claims to be the UK’s largest independent network provider, says the new network is designed to future-proof the town’s digital needs for generations to come and bring full-fibre connectivity that was previously not available within reach of thousands of homes and businesses in the Fenland town. Construction of the town-wide full-fibre network has begun and is being delivered by Granemore Group on behalf of CityFibre.

As with other CityFibre construction projects, each area usually takes a few weeks to complete, but construction teams will typically only be outside each home for two to three days. The network is not yet live, but once activated, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers and ISPs. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to deliver next-generation broadband services as well as TalkTalk, Zen and other providers.

Chris Boden, leader of Fenland District Council, said: “It is fantastic that CityFibre is now ready to start delivering its £5m infrastructure investment programme in March, which will deliver a town-wide network that will benefit residents, businesses and services alike. This is a once-in-a-generation upgrade that will future-proof our network infrastructure at a time when connectivity has never been so important.”

Jan French, deputy leader of Fenland District Council and county, district and town ward member for March, added: “Good connectivity is vital – whether it’s to work from home, access education and public services, or for gaming and streaming entertainment – so I’m delighted to see this upgrade taking place in March. It will help to close the digital divide and complement the other developments taking place in the town.”

The new deployment comes as full-fibre roll-out is gaining pace across the UK, boosted by the government announcing in December 2021 a consultation on proposals for changes to building regulations to ensure new homes have next-generation gigabit broadband installed as standard practice.

The changes to the law will mean home developers will be legally required to build gigabit broadband into new homes in England and make it a priority as part of building work. They will also need to bring broadband network operators on board to consider gigabit broadband installation when construction plans are submitted to local councils.