Cityfibre Confirm New 160km Fibre Optic FTTP Network for Milton Keynes

Cityfibre has today confirmed that the large Buckinghamshire (England) town of Milton Keynes will become the latest to join their flock, with a new 160km long Gigabit capable fibre optic broadband network being made available to local businesses, schools and colleges.

The news itself comes as no great surprise because Cityfibre has already revealed a £7m deal with two local ISP partners (Northampton-based DBfB and Bradford-based Exa Networks), which was first reported on 11th May 2016 (here).

On top of that KCOM’s old metro network in Milton Keynes was one of those acquired by Cityfibre at the end of 2015 (here) and nearby Northampton are also on the list. However Cityfibre claim that “many businesses” in the town still suffer from “Internet speeds well below the government’s defined measure of superfast broadband” (i.e. 24Mbps+).

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said:

“We’re thrilled to be announcing Milton Keynes as our next Gigabit City. Despite leading the way in smart city thinking, this city is yet another example of those still strangled by poor digital connectivity. Our pure fibre network, now available to businesses through our partners at dbfb, will catapult Milton Keynes to be alongside some of the best connected cities in the world.”

Councillor Rob Middleton said:

“It’s difficult to overstate how much of an impact becoming a Gigabit City is going to have on Milton Keynes. For MK businesses to compete on a national and indeed global scale, we not only need the high skilled people we are lucky to have in the city, but also the ultra-fast digital infrastructure to make it all happen.

As a Council, we’ve ploughed many millions into the broadband infrastructure of the city over recent years – but there’s still much more to be done. The latest huge investment from CityFibre in Milton Keynes will make ultra-fast internet even more accessible to local businesses.”

Admittedly Virgin Media’s ultrafast cable (DOCSIS) network has virtually zero coverage in the town, although Openreach’s (BT) FTTC/P based “superfast broadband” network does cover roughly 95% of local premises. Mind you it’s not clear how many local businesses have been left out of reach of BT’s platform and this seems to be Cityfibre’s focus.

According to Cityfibre’s earlier report, the deal with DBfB and Exa Networks should provide connectivity to 500 businesses and schools across both Milton Keynes and Northampton.