CityFibre Put First Full Fibre Homes Live in Buckinghamshire for Project Gigabit

CityFibre, which has so far deployed their 5.5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 4.4 million UK premises, has just connected its first customers in Buckinghamshire (inc. Hertfordshire and East Berkshire) as part of their £58m (state aid) Project Gigabit contract (LOT 26) to reach 34,000 hard-to-reach rural premises in the county.

Just to recap. The original contract award was announced back in February 2024 (here) and forms part of the wider £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which aims to help extend the coverage of gigabit-capable broadband to reach 99% of UK premises by 2032 (currently at around 88%). CityFibre is also contributing its own private investment to support the project (total of £1.2bn in combined public and private investment).

The first location to benefit from their Lot 26 deployment appears to have been the village of Newton Longville, although the operator hasn’t revealed a lot of information about their exact roll-out plans and timescale for the wider contract (an annoyingly common problem with Project Gigabit’s contracts).

Simon Holden, Group Chief Operating Officer at CityFibre, said:

“The rollout of CityFibre’s full fibre broadband network is a massive leap forward for Buckinghamshire’s digital infrastructure. In building this foundation, we’re not only enhancing day-to-day connectivity, we’re enabling long-term economic resilience, innovation, and growth throughout the region.”

Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, Cllr Steven Broadbent, said:

“In today’s digital world people need to have a good internet connection, and the biggest thing we hear from residents is the need to improve infrastructure. So CityFibre’s rollout in places like Newton Longville is really important for people living in those communities.

Looking back, so much has changed in the way we live our lives. We can work or run a business from home, everyone’s doing online meetings now, and we want to ensure our children can connect to online lessons should they need to. I know it has made a huge difference to my family and I believe that is representative of the families across Newton Longville and across the county.”

CityFibre currently holds ten Project Gigabit contracts, which should help to benefit over 1.3 million additional premises over the next 5-years. This includes nine Project Gigabit contracts, totalling over £865m in state aid to serve more than 464,000 hard to reach rural homes and businesses in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes.

On top of that, CityFibre’s recent acquisition of altnet provider Connexin will also see them inherit the Project Gigabit contract for over 34,000 hard-to-reach premises in Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire (Lot 10). The gap between that 500k of premises via Project Gigabit and the 1.3m figure mentioned earlier reflects their complementary commercial investment.

All of this supports the company’s long-held “commitment to reach more than 8 million premises nationwide” with their new full fibre network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and nearly £1bn of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. But quite when they’ll reach this point is unclear (originally it was due by the end of 2025); much will depend on their next funding agreement.