CityFibre Signs UK Urban Fibre Optic Sharing Agreement with Level 3

Cityfibre, which specialises in building ultrafast urban fibre optic (FTTP) broadband networks, has signed a new national Master Services Agreement (MSA) with international network provider Level 3 that will allow the latter to procure fibre and expand their service to enterprise customers across the UK.

Apparently the first call-off under the new MSA deal is a Dark Fibre metro ring on CityFibre’s network in Edinburgh, to which Level 3 will now be able to connect local customer sites. The deal itself simply sets out the standard terms and pricing under which Level 3 can procure the fibre from CityFibre’s expanded network.

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said:

“We are delighted to be able to announce both the MSA and the first commercial call-off in Edinburgh with Level 3. This marks an innovative solution for CityFibre customers, in providing both a resilient dark fibre metro ring as well as additional connections to customer locations.

This agreement demonstrates the enhanced relevance our UK footprint now has to international service providers providing solutions to the UK market. Clearly, with our expanded presence in 37 towns and cities across the UK, we offer increased scope for Level 3 to migrate customers to on-net dark fibre connections with significant advantages in terms of cost and solution architecture.”

Business focused deals like this are important as they help to bring additional investment into Cityfibre, which supports their model and in the long term may even assist in making it more viable to expand such networks towards residential properties. But right now most of Cityfibre’s work, except in York and their legacy FTTH network in Bournemouth, remains orientated towards business and public sector connectivity.