Cityfibre Deploy Ultrafast Gigabit FTTP Broadband in Slough and Maidenhead

Cityfibre has announced that two further large towns in Berkshire (England) – Slough and Maidenhead – will be the next on their list to benefit from the deployment of a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) broadband and Ethernet network for local businesses.

The company has already repurposed or reactivated similar fibre optic infrastructure in the nearby towns of Bracknell and Reading, with local business ISP BtL Communications supplying the connectivity. Both were originally acquired as part of the company’s £90 million move to gobble most of KCOM’s UK network assets in 2015 (here) and Slough was also part of the same deal.

Similarly BtL will also be providing the new service for Slough and Maidenhead, which is planning to “light up” 38km of fibre from Slough Trading Estate to the town centre, and a further 10km across Maidenhead. As usual local businesses are being urged to register their interest at http://www.cityfibre.com/connect .

Nick Gray, City Development Manager at CityFibre, said:

“Berkshire is known as an economic powerhouse, and Slough in particular – a renowned hub for blue-chip businesses and start-ups – has grown its reputation as one of the UK’s most tech-savvy towns in the region.

From the latest Tech Nation Report we know that the digital technology industry contributes billions to the UK economy, creates high value jobs and attracts investment from all over the world. This presents excellent opportunities for Thames Valley communities. It is vitally important, therefore, that this growing region has the best connectivity possible to enable it to remain competitive on a global stage.

We are excited to welcome Slough and Maidenhead on board as our newest Gigabit Cities in the region and look forward to seeing local businesses flourishing thanks to this transformational infrastructure.”

Rob Lamden, Managing Director, BtL said:

“We have been helping businesses in the region with their IT, telecoms and internet connectivity since 2001 and we are very pleased to be working with CityFibre to make a real difference to the region’s digital landscape.

Having grown up in Maidenhead and Slough from the age of nine, I am particularly motivated to bring the gigabit revolution to the towns I grew up in.

We are now able to offer local businesses next-generation internet services at highly competitive prices that will turbocharge their capabilities and give them a huge head-start over the competition. And of course BtL will be alongside them to support their growth and to help them take full advantage.”

The fibre to the press release states that the new network will provide “an ultrafast, pure fibre alternative to the towns’ legacy copper-based networks,” although it should be said that Virgin Media’s 300Mbps capable cable network and Openreach’s (BT) somewhat slower ‘up to’ 80Mbps FTTC (VDSL2) broadband services both have extremely good coverage of Slough. This may be part of the reason why KCOM struggled to make much of a dent with their existing fibre.