Quickline and Pure Broadband Live on Doncaster’s Cityfibre FTTP UPDATE

CityFibre’s £25m project to deploy a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across the South Yorkshire town of Doncaster, which began in April 2020 (here), has started to bear fruit after two of their UK ISP partners – Quickline (Quickfire) and Pure Broadband – began connecting their first customers.

The project forms part of CF’s wider £4bn investment programme, which aims to cover 1 million UK premises with their alternative FTTP network by the end of 2021 (so far almost 650,000 have already been completed) and then 8 million premises across 285 cities, towns and villages – c.30% of the UK (here). The latter target is expected to be “substantially completed” by the end of 2025.

In terms of the Doncaster build, the first ISPs to announce their support for the town appear to be Quickline’s new full fibre division – Quickfire – and local rival ISP Pure Broadband. Today both claimed to have connected their first customers in the area (around the city centre), although only Pure has issued a comment.

Adrian Bolster, MD of Pure Broadband, said:

“We are experts in supplying reliable, ultra-fast broadband-only connections and customer satisfaction is at the heart of our business. This is just the start of our new venture in Doncaster with our long-term partners CityFibre. A lot of work and investment has gone into this and we are really excited to be able to offer our fast-speed, value-for-money internet service to all postcodes in the area.

The current stay-at-home message has meant that many internet supplies have been stretched, but with our upgrades and investment we are confident purebroadband will provide local households with a product they can rely on. Whether you’re a gamer, working from home, home-schooling, streaming TV or just want to catch up with your family online, our fast and reliable service will allow you to do all that and more.”

In terms of pricing, only Quickfire lists anything in public and they’re charging £40 per month for an unlimited 350Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 24-month term with free installation, which rises to 900Mbps for £50 per month.

However, the ISPs will face competition from a couple of gigabit-capable rivals. Openreach already has a sizeable FTTP deployment in the town, while Virgin Media now covers the majority of local premises.

Meanwhile, more ISPs are expected to become available via Cityfibre’s network in the area by the end of 2021.

UPDATE 4:28pm

A postcode check within Doncaster has helped us to uncover Pure Broadband’s packages. Standard (non-discount) pricing starts at £25 per month for 75Mbps, £30 for 200Mbps, £37.50 for 400Mbps and £45 for 900Mbps. We should point out that there is a small first 3 months and first 6 months discount on their £25 (reduced to £22) and £30 (reduced to £28) plans respectively.