Cityfibre Pick Boss for £20m Cambridge Full Fibre Broadband Rollout

Cityfibre and ISP partner Vodafone have recruited a former police communications director, Charles Kitchin, to oversee the £20m roll-out of their new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) ultrafast broadband network for homes and businesses in the UK city of Cambridge.

The network developer already has a 44km long metro Dark Fibre network in Cambridge, which is used to connect local businesses and public sector sites. But under the deal announced last year (here) this will soon be extended across the city to cover around 60,000 premises (residents and small businesses) by the end of 2021.

Charles will become a local point of contact for all city stakeholders, including residents and a key advocate for the project. His previous tenure in the city has seen him working in key leadership positions, such as with NHS England, the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and as director of public engagement and communication at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire (OPCCC).

Charles Kitchin said:

“I’ve either studied, lived, or worked in the city for the last 40 years and I’m thrilled to be part of the driving force transforming Cambridge’s digital infrastructure. Currently only 6% of the UK has full fibre broadband, so it’s really exciting that almost everyone in Cambridge will be able to have access to and benefit from full fibre over the coming years.”

Rob Hamlin, Cityfibre’s Commercial Director, said:

“Charles’ commitment to Cambridge puts him in an ideal position to take our message forward. CityFibre has committed to invest at least £20 million in the infrastructure project which will extend its fibre network to around 60,000 homes and businesses in the city, bringing full fibre to many city residents for the very first time.

Our ‘fibre to the premises’ programme is a game changer and nobody is better placed than Charles to drive home that message and help people to discover more about the impact this investment will have on the city’s digital future.”

Under the current plan Cityfibre expects to begin Cambridge’s construction phase this spring and if all goes according to plan then the first homes will go live during the summer. All of this forms part of their £2.5bn private investment to cover around 1 million UK homes by the end of 2021, which could rise to reach a total of 5 million premises across 37 UK cities and towns by the end of 2024 (here).

The operator has previously said that their roll-out could deliver millions in economic benefits for the city (Regeneris report), including £59m in boosted productivity and innovation, £23m in new business start-ups and £117m in increased housing wealth. But this will have to be balanced against the fact that they will be competing against some ultrafast FTTP and G.fast broadband services from Openreach (BT), as well as the wide coverage of Virgin Media’s cable network.