CityFibre Launch 8.5Gbps Wholesale FTTP Broadband Product for UK ISPs
Network operator CityFibre, which has already deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network to cover 4.7 million UK premises (4.5m Ready for Service), has today taken the wrapping off a major new “Multi-Gig” product, offering its ISP partners and their customers (homes and businesses) symmetrical speeds of 8.5Gbps (Gigabits per second).
The new product tier, which is described as being the “next evolution of CityFibre’s Multi-Gig portfolio“, is supported by the operator’s recently upgraded XGS-PON (10Gbps symmetric capable PON) technology platform, which has already been rolled out across their national full fibre network to replace their old GPON solution.
The new tier represents a significant performance uplift from their previous fastest tier of 5.5Gbps, although to date the only broadband ISP promoting such speeds to consumers has been Sky Broadband. Part of the reason for that is because it’s tricky for ISPs to adapt their networks to cope with that sort of capacity, which takes time and money. The same is likely to be true for the new 8.5Gbps tier too.
Advertisement
However, today’s announcement is somewhat of a soft launch for the new tier, since it won’t officially become accessible for “all of its ISP partners” to take until 21st April 2026. But CityFibre are keen to point out that their latest installs are already being deployed with 10Gbps capable Optical Network Terminals (ONT / ONU’s) inside properties, so for many existing (recent) users upgrading won’t require an additional engineer visit (customers with older ONTs will still require an engineer visit if they opt for a faster Multi-Gig tier).
Simon Holden, CEO of CityFibre, said:
“CityFibre is the UK’s largest, most advanced full fibre network, setting the standard for what people should expect from their connection and enabling all our customers and partners, across consumer, business, mobile and the public sector, to innovate and grow.
Thanks to forward-thinking policy and regulation, and ambitious capital providers, CityFibre is transforming the UK’s digital infrastructure and propelling the nation into the global fast lane.”
A number of other alternative networks (e.g. Netomnia/YouFibre, B4RN etc.) have been offering similar broadband speeds to consumers for several years. But it’s clear that CityFibre are keeping a much closer eye on developments at arch rival Openreach (BT), which just started piloting speeds of up to 8.5Gbps via EE (and possibly some other ISPs that we don’t yet know about).
One key difference is above that CityFibre’s consumer tiers usually offer symmetric performance, while Openreach’s comparable 8.5Gbps tier is only for downloads (uploads drop to 850Mbps – except on more expensive business lines). In addition, CityFibre’s wholesale tiers tend to be a modest amount cheaper than Openreach’s, although we’ve yet to see how much they’ll charge ISPs for the new option.
The usual catch in all this is the difficulty of actually being able to harness all that speed when online (Why Buying Gigabit Broadband Doesn’t Always Deliver). The multi-gigabit domain thus remains more of a premium luxury product, although technological evolution rarely waits for the slowest users. Pushing the boundaries of modern technology is also part of what can make an operator exciting (marketing carries power) and as coverage matures then service performance / quality inevitably becomes the next battleground, alongside price.
Advertisement
CityFibre said they’re currently adding over 30,000 new customers each month as the company approaches its 1 million customers milestone. In recent months, around 70% of households who were switching broadband provider were moved onto the CityFibre network where available, or so they claim.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
« BT Confirm Delay to Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Repair Ship for Orkney
Advertisement
Leave a Reply
Privacy Notice: Please note that news comments are anonymous, which means that we do NOT require you to enter any real personal details to post a message and display names can be almost anything you like (provided they do not contain offensive language or impersonate a real person's legal name). By clicking to submit a post you agree to storing your entries for comment content, display name, IP and email in our database, for as long as the post remains live.
Only the submitted name and comment will be displayed in public, while the rest will be kept private (we will never share this outside of ISPreview, regardless of whether the data is real or fake). This comment system uses submitted IP, email and website address data to spot abuse and spammers. All data is transferred via an encrypted (https secure) session.
“CityFibre is the UK’s largest, most advanced full fibre network”
er what. I assume they’re trying to imply that their XGSPON network is bigger than Openreach’s, which is technically true for now, but the wording makes it sound as if they say their total FTTP footprint is larger.
His whole statement gives LLM vibes.
@BT Ivor – come back when Openreach can offer something better than a 10GE interconnect to ISPs
Largest, maybe not and, but most alt networks is more advanced than what Openreach offer. Not that it bothers me that much, I just want a reliable network that does what I need and the one I am on, does more than I need and cheaper than any provider on Openreach network. How long it will last, who knows, but i will take it while I can.
“their XGSPON network is bigger than Openreach’s, which is technically true for now”, and will be for several years to come
Sooo they can do 8.5 but not release 5 for national networks nice. Sounds like Sky should just own CityFibre at this point.
5.5Gbps is also available nationally, so they told me a few months ago.
Mark, I don’t think they actually have done this. As I am pretty sure other ISPs would be offering it.
As per the article, it’s not a simple matter for ISPs to adapt to such speeds, there’s a lot of work involved and so most usually wait until the second level wholesale suppliers start offering the same tiers and that takes time. This is a bit like how it took quite a long time after Openreach launched 1.8Gbps before other retail ISPs started offering it.
5.5 is available only to partners taking 100G NNIS from what I understand. Many players on the national product are only using 10G unbelievably.
Following all the short sighted redundancies, what a pity Cityfibre no longer has a decent marketing department to give their new products the exposure they deserve.
The ethernet product range is really starting to look tired now, come on CF, give us something
I’m through with waiting for them. They dug my street in 2023 and it’s been left ever since. The website claims the area is still planned, but nothing seems to happen.
Openreach have just built and it’s live from them as I speak so I ordered with them a couple of weeks ago. Eight separate addresses have also got work planned, so it’s a nightmare in my cul-de-sac at the moment!
If they got their act together, they could have had a hold here, but it’s too late.
Yeah great, people can get super duper speeds, but there are people who are still struggling with speeds lower than 10Mb/s. This goes for all networks, let get everyone on at least 100Mb/s.
This is why I have said many times, the networks should not be a way to make money.
There will always be people that cant get 100mbit on fibre to their home, eg. rural farms in the middle of nowhere. It would be easier for them to get 5g or Starlink. 6g is coming out which concentrates more on reliability. Starlink would be the best option for most in that situation.
@K lots of people suffer poor speeds. I’m in West London, an area that should have plenty of coverage, but end up using 5G. Fortunately Openreach have started work down the road, so I hope we will get broadband soon.
BebInLondon:
Good that you are getting fibre. Another problem for people is that some dont know faster services are available. I am sure there are plenty of folk that dont know about 5g or Starlink, let alone FTTP.
Adding an 8.5G profile to existing infrastructure capable of delivering it costs almost nothing. Building out new infrastructure to the middle of nowhere costs billions. Why frame it as one or the other as if they are equal propositions? Think of it this way: They probably won’t get that many takers but the extra price paid by those that do take it is almost all profit. Profit is the only thing that drives investment. So by doing this it’s more likely not less likely that they are able to build to less profitable areas.