8. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will shortly introduce new rules on how broadband speeds and “unlimited” usage allowances can be promoted (details). Assuming you are aware of this already, what are your thoughts?

CityFibre (Mark Collins):

We fully support the regulation and drive for much more transparent advertised broadband speeds. However, we believe that it is more than just the speeds that misrepresent superfast broadband and next generation networks. It is our opinion that advertising anything other than end-to-end FTTH as ‘fibre optic’ is inaccurate and misleading as using copper or coaxial cable to connect the network to homes slows the speed of the network and therefore should not be marketed as ‘fibre’.

True fibre to the home infrastructure gives service providers and customers the best possible environment to deliver the maximum throughput possible both up and down stream.

9. Finally, we understand that CityFibre aims to reach 62,000 homes and businesses in Bournemouth, Southbourne, Winton and Westbourne with its fibre optic broadband service during 2012. We also understand that the aim is to pass all homes in the town by mid-2013. That’s extremely good news for those whom both live and work in the Bournemouth area, but what about the future; do you have any firm plans to restart the project in Dundee (Scotland) or to expand beyond Bournemouth?

CityFibre (Mark Collins):

CityFibre certainly has plans to build fibre to the home networks beyond Bournemouth. We want to make sure that Bournemouth is right before we start building elsewhere. It is our intention to connect one million homes and 50,000 businesses over the next five years. We will build networks in the areas where it is commercially viable and where it will further the plans of our service provider partners.

It is for this reason that we are unable to commit to continuing the residential Dundee project at this point in time. We will however evaluate this project as a potential candidate for fibre to the home in the future. It must be remembered that Dundee remains an important city for us as we continue to provide extensive fibre infrastructure for the Council and Dundee University.

CityFibre not only builds fibre to the home networks; we build fibre optic infrastructure where it is needed for organisations such as universities, hospitals, local authorities and businesses. The scale of these projects can range from bespoke links to extensive metropolitan fibre rings, and it is these rings which present the biggest opportunities to build out fibre to the home.

We would also like to add:
One of the biggest opportunities for us at present is in the public sector. Local government drivers to communicate and deliver better services to their citizens means that the requirement for reliable, high speed and high capacity network infrastructure is growing fast and is an area we are actively pursuing.

We are very excited to announce that we have just completed a project for City of York Council which connects over 100 sites including schools, council offices, shopping centres, leisure centres, tourism offices, park and ride locations, and youth and community centres. With 95km of network construction bringing value to so many sectors of the city, this illustrates the benefits that our business delivers.

END.