CityFibre Expand Strategic UK Full Fibre Network Deal with Neos

Fibre optic broadband builder CityFibre (CF) has announced that their strategic partnership with Neos Networks, which enables both sides to take more advantage of each other’s respective fibre networks, is being expanded to work across a further 9 cities in the United Kingdom.

At present Neos operates a huge 24,480km+ long fibre network via 477 related Points of Presence (PoPs) across the UK, which by the end of this year will have reached 30,000km and that will come alongside a larger footprint of 90 data centres and over 800 PoPs (including 550 unbundled exchanges). Many of these exchanges will provide 100Gbps high-capacity options and 10Gbps Ethernet connectivity as standard.

On the flip side, CF’s £4bn project aims to cover 1 million UK premises with their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by the end of 2021 (over 650,000 have already been reached) and then 8 million premises are expected to be “substantially completed” across 285 cities, towns and villages – c.30% of the UK – by the end of 2025 (here). The network will also pass 800,000 businesses, 400,000 public sector sites and 250,000 5G access points.

Suffice to say that CF now sees some benefit in expanding their partnership with Neos to reflect their deployment plans, which means that their arrangement will now be extended across a further 9 cities including Cambridge, Cheltenham, Coventry, Derby, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Peterborough, Southend and Swindon.

For Neos, the partnership means their business and network customers will have access to business-grade Ethernet connectivity on the CF network, ensuring its customers have greater optionality and flexibility when selecting “last mile” providers.

Sarah Mills, Neos MD for Wholesale and Smart Infrastructure, said:

“Neos Networks and CityFibre have both invested substantially in UK fibre networks over the last ten years, challenging the status quo and developing a strong proposition in the market. This development of our partnership means we can now offer businesses enhanced, self-serve, last-mile capability in more locations than ever before. With business connectivity needs increasing, offering a new network alternative for multi-location businesses can help them on the path to recovery.”

Andrew Wilson, CF’s Head of Wholesale, said:

“The CityFibre network is expanding rapidly and the extended partnership with Neos Networks helps to meet increased demand, providing all-important choice in the market. As a renowned disrupter in the market, establishing partnerships such as these helps us to offer our customers the best network experience possible. This relationship is a perfect fit due to our companies’ like-minded approach to tackling UK connectivity challenges and the vision towards improving the digital future of Britain.”

As of today, just two of the nine new cities are available under the agreement – Cambridge and Swindon, although the additional seven cities are currently due for completion within the next month.