Cityfibre Deploys Gigabit FTTP Broadband Network in Northampton UK

Alternative network provider Cityfibre has today confirmed that the large county town of Northampton in Northamptonshire (East Midlands of England) has become its next “Gigabit City“, with their 45km long fibre optic (FTTP) network going live for local businesses today.

The news itself is not an especially big surprise because Cityfibre had already hinted about their intention when they signed a multi-year agreement with DBfB during May 2016 (here), which specifically reference their joint plans to connect businesses in Northampton.

The city was also one of the ones that Cityfibre gobbled as part of their £90 million deal to grab KCOM’s UK metro networks (excluding those in and around the Hull area in East Yorkshire) last year.

Meanwhile dbfb have pledged an initial donation of £5,000 to the Cynthia Spencer Hospice for the first 50 business connections, and they will then donate £50 per business connecting to the new network thereafter.

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said:

“We’re delighted to be announcing Northampton as a Gigabit City and dbfb as our launch partner. The council has already shown its commitment to improving digital infrastructure and we hope that our investment will help Northampton reach its targets even faster. Pure fibre networks like these will one day be common-place but until then, Northampton and its businesses will be able to enjoy a huge digital head start on the competition.”

Paul Griffiths, Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce, added:

“We’ve long understood how critical good internet access is for businesses and citizens alike and we’re committed to ensuring it becomes a reality for everyone. For the many start-up businesses in Northampton, having a market leading internet connection will make all the difference to their success and allow them to compete on a global-scale with other digitally-advanced businesses. We’re delighted that CityFibre has chosen to invest in Northampton and are very excited to see the impact it has.”

It’s worth pointing out that the Northampton County Council has also set a target to make “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) available to 95% of local premises by the end of 2017 and 99% by the end of 2018, although most of that project has so far involved working with Openreach (BT).

Northampton itself is also extremely well covered by both BT’s FTTC network and Virgin Media’s ultrafast cable, which could make it harder for Cityfibre to attract a lot of connections. The Northampton Gigabit City will be officially launched at an event this afternoon at the Northampton Saints Rugby Ground (details here).