22,700 Social Homes in Wolverhampton to Get CityFibre FTTP Broadband

A new blanket council wayleave agreement, which has been approved by social housing provider Wolverhampton Homes and CityFibre, looks set to see the latter extend their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network to cover more than 22,700 extra homes in the West Midland’s (England) city.

At present CityFibre is already investing £50m to cover the vast majority of local homes and businesses with their new FTTP network in Wolverhampton (here), which started last summer in the Claregate and Tettenhall areas and is being supported by civil engineering firm Comex 2000.

The project forms part of the operator’s wider £4bn investment programme, which ultimately aims to cover 1 million UK premises with their alternative FTTP network by the end of 2021 (almost 650,000 have already been reached) 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.

Sanjay Sudra, CityFibre’s Strategic Wayleave Manager, said:

“Digital access is a major issue facing communities across the UK and we are committed to addressing this problem.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown, more than ever, just how vital a fit-for-purpose connection is for work, play and keeping in touch. The agreement we have reached with Wolverhampton Homes will make a genuine difference to thousands of people living in properties across the city and we look forward to seeing tenants take advantage of the benefits Full Fibre will bring.”

The local network is not yet live in the city and CF doesn’t say how long it will take them to deploy across the Wolverhampton Homes properties. But if it’s anything like other cities then the first services should be coming online soon and the build itself may then take a few years to fully complete its local coverage goals.