First “Businesses” Live on Cityfibre’s Gigabit FTTP Network in Northampton

It’s been four months since Cityfibre’s 45km Gigabit capable fibre optic (FTTP) network went live in the Northamptonshire town of Northampton and the operator has today announced that the first “businesses” are finally live, but the only one they’ve named is their own ISP partner DBfB.

The network itself has actually been around for quite awhile, albeit not fully commercialised, and Cityfibre only acquired it recently when they gobbled KCOM’s UK metro networks for £90 million. On top of that Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media already have strong coverage in the town via their respective FTTC and DOCSIS broadband networks, which continue to expand.

In other words there’s a fair bit of competition for Cityfibre and DBfB to overcome, which might explain why the only business they’re able to shout about having connected today is DBfB itself. However the press release does use the plural “businesses” and so we’re assuming that they’ve actually got a few more than just DBfB online (we’ve asked and await a reply).

Simon Pickering, Managing Director of dbfb, said:

“Practicing what we preach, dbfb was the first business in Northampton to take a gigabit connection. We are already noticing the positive impact on our productivity and will be excited to follow other early adopters as they plug in to gigabit speeds. We are delighted to be bringing this new generation of affordable gigabit business connectivity to our home town.”

Jason Petrou-Brown, Business Development Manager at CityFibre, said:

“It’s very exciting to see the first businesses getting connected and becoming part of the Gigabit City project in Northampton. These ultra-fast services have the potential to revolutionise the way businesses operate and as more continue to join the network this will have a hugely positive effect on Northampton’s business community as a whole.”

The network itself is described as “spanning the entire town“, although that’s more reflective of potential coverage rather than actual premises passed. The fibre optic cable runs from the centre through Cliftonville, Brackmills Industrial Estate, Moulton Park and Round Spinney.

UPDATE 10:13am:

Apparently five orders have been made, with two live (inc. the dbfb above).