Cityfibre UK Start Wolverhampton 1Gbps FTTH Broadband Build

Street works to roll-out a new “gigabit-capable” Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) based broadband ISP network have just begun in the West Midland’s city of Wolverhampton. The deployment is being funded by an investment of £50m from Cityfibre, which usually aims to cover around 85%+ of premises in the areas they target.

At this point it’s worth noting that Cityfibre recently scooped up the Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) contract to deploy a new Dark Fibre network in the city (here), which is being supported by a public investment of £4.9m and aims to connect 170 public sector sites (e.g. schools, libraries and offices). Some of this will no doubt form the foundation for the latest £50m commercial project to connect local homes and businesses via FTTH.

Likewise, it’s no surprise to find that the company has contracted civil engineering firm Comex 2000 to do both their Dark Fibre and FTTH network builds in the city. The first work is already said to have begun in the Claregate and Tettenhall areas of Wolverhampton.

As usual the new FTTH build forms part of Cityfibre’s wider £4bn investment plan (here), which currently aims to cover around 1 million premises by the end of 2021 and then 8 million across 100+ cities and towns (c.30% of the UK). The latter target is expected to be “substantially completed” by the end of 2025.

Bashir Ahmed, CityFibre’s City Manager for Wolverhampton, said:

“Full Fibre connectivity and next generation broadband services are set to transform the lives of those living and working in Wolverhampton. This goes far beyond simply helping households access the latest entertainment at lightning speed. The benefits are far deeper, from enabling smart home technology to giving people the freedom to work from home with ease, which has become more important than ever before.

As well as enhancing our home lives, Full Fibre will make Wolverhampton a more attractive place to live, run a business and invest. CityFibre’s £50m full fibre network will give the city’s business community the platform they need to realise their growth ambitions. By connecting properties at up to 1,000 Mbps we’re putting Wolverhampton firmly in the top tier of all UK cities for connectivity, establishing it as a globally competitive digital destination.”

Louise Miles, Wolverhampton Councillor, added:

“We welcome this private investment by CityFibre into Wolverhampton to deliver a modern, fit-for-purpose digital infrastructure that will futureproof residents and businesses.

The City of Wolverhampton Council continues to work closely with the private sector to facilitate economic growth in the digital age and CityFibre’s full fibre network will be vital in ensuring Wolverhampton has a buoyant and resilient economy with a strong, vibrant innovative business base.”

At present it’s not clear which of Cityfibre’s residential broadband ISP partners will be selling the new service to consumers when it goes live (likely to occur in a few months’ time). The most probable candidate is Vodafone via their Gigafast Broadband packages, although TalkTalk is also expected to join the network soon, but at the time of writing neither has been confirmed.

In terms of local rivals for gigabit-class connectivity, the greatest competition to this new network will come from Virgin Media, which is already widely available across the city. On top of that some smaller providers, such as Exascale, are known to have targeted the city but they’re more focused upon “out of town” locations (here).