List of UK Places Live with CityFibre’s FTTP Broadband ISPs – 2023 Edition
At present, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of where Cityfibre are actively building their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network and which of those deployments have gone allow (i.e. allowing you to order a live service from an ISP). The following list may help to answer this.
Just to recap. The operator is currently several years into a rollout (start 2018) that will see them become the UK’s third major provider of broadband infrastructure after Openreach and Virgin Media (VMO2). As part of that they’re investing an estimated £2.4bn in equity and £4.9bn debt to reach up to 8 million premises – across more than 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK) – by the end of 2025 (here).
At the time of writing, Cityfibre has already covered 2.6 million UK premises, although slightly less than that (2.3 million) are currently considered as Ready For Service (RFS) via UK ISPs, but we’ll come back to that. The network, once completed in a few years’ time, should also pass around 800,000 businesses, 400,000 local authority sites and 250,000 5G access points (masts, rooftop sites etc.).
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The operator is now actively building across 86 (up from 63 last year) of their over 285 planned locations, although most of those are still a long way from completion, and the list of in-build locations continues to grow. Once live, consumers tend to be able to pick from a selection of ISPs, but they aren’t all live or available in every location yet.
In each location, the new network tends to go live gradually (phased approach) as work is completed in each neighbourhood, although it can sometimes take around a year before the very first neighbourhood gets switched-on. One caveat here is that CityFibre may declare some areas as RFS before any ISPs are available to take a live connection from (this is reflected in the list below).
The list below displays which of CF’s locations are in-build, as well as which of those in-build areas have premises that are RFS and which of those in-build locations have RFS premises where it’s actually possible to order live services via a supporting ISP.
Just to be clear on the aforementioned points. CF’s network will currently only be live in SOME parts of the locations listed below, and we don’t have an exact list of which ISPs provide service to each listed location – it varies, and the list of ISPs is much longer than those we’ve mentioned above (e.g. in Bradford you’d probably be looking at Legend Fibre – since acquired by Octaplus). But some providers, like those mentioned earlier, either already have or are still working toward full national availability.
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| Active Network Build Locations (86) |
Locations with RFS Homes (75) |
Locations with Live ISP Services (72) |
| March | March | March |
| Aberdeen | Aberdeen | Aberdeen |
| Barnsley | Barnsley | Barnsley |
| Bath | Bath | Bath |
| Blackpool | Blackpool | Blackpool |
| Bognor Regis | Bognor Regis | Bognor Regis |
| Bolton | Bolton | Bolton |
| Bournemouth | Bournemouth | Bournemouth |
| Bracknell | Bracknell | Bracknell |
| Bradford | Bradford | Bradford |
| Brighton & Hove | Brighton & Hove | Brighton & Hove |
| Bury St Edmunds | Bury St Edmunds | Bury St Edmunds |
| Cambridge | Cambridge | Cambridge |
| Chatham & Gillingham | Chatham & Gillingham | Chatham & Gillingham |
| Cheltenham & Charlton Kings | Cheltenham & Charlton Kings | Cheltenham & Charlton Kings |
| Chester | Chester | Chester |
| Chichester & Arun | Chichester & Arun | Chichester & Arun |
| Christchurch | Christchurch | Christchurch |
| Coventry | Coventry | Coventry |
| Crawley | Crawley | Crawley |
| Derby | Derby | Derby |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | Dewsbury |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | Doncaster |
| Dundee | Dundee | Dundee |
| Eastbourne | Eastbourne | Eastbourne |
| Edinburgh | Edinburgh | Edinburgh |
| Gateshead | Gateshead | Gateshead |
| Glasgow | Glasgow | Glasgow |
| Gloucester | Gloucester | Gloucester |
| Halifax | Harrogate | Harrogate |
| Harrogate | Hartlepool | Hartlepool |
| Hartlepool | Havant | Havant |
| Hastings | High Wycombe | Huddersfield |
| Havant | Horsham | Inverness |
| High Wycombe | Huddersfield | Ipswich |
| Horsham | Inverness | Kettering |
| Huddersfield | Ipswich | Leeds |
| Inverness | Kettering | Leicester |
| Ipswich | Leeds | Lincoln |
| Kettering | Leicester | Lowestoft |
| Leeds | Lincoln | Luton |
| Leicester | Lowestoft | Maidenhead |
| Lincoln | Luton | Middlesbrough |
| Loughborough | Maidenhead | Milton Keynes |
| Lowestoft | Middlesbrough | Newcastle Upon Tyne |
| Luton | Milton Keynes | North Tyneside |
| Maidenhead | Newcastle Upon Tyne | Northampton |
| Middlesbrough | North Tyneside | Norwich |
| Milton Keynes | Northampton | Nottingham |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | Norwich | Peterborough |
| North Tyneside | Nottingham | Plymouth |
| Northampton | Peterborough | Poole |
| Norwich | Plymouth | Portsmouth |
| Nottingham | Poole | Preston |
| Peterborough | Portsmouth | Reading |
| Plymouth | Preston | Renfrewshire |
| Poole | Reading | Rotherham |
| Portsmouth | Renfrewshire | Sheffield |
| Preston | Rotherham | Slough |
| Reading | Sheffield | Solihull |
| Renfrewshire | Slough | Southend-on-Sea |
| Ripon | Solihull | Stirling |
| Rochford | Southend-on-Sea | Sunderland |
| Rotherham | Stirling | Swindon |
| Rugby | Stockton-on-Tees | Wakefield |
| Sheffield | Sunderland | Weston-Super-Mare |
| Sittingbourne | Swindon | Wokingham |
| Slough | Wakefield | Wolverhampton |
| Solihull | Weston-Super-Mare | Worcester |
| Southend-on-Sea | Wokingham | Worthing |
| St Helens | Wolverhampton | Yaxley |
| Stirling | Worcester | York |
| Stockton-on-Tees | Worthing | |
| Sunderland | Yaxley | |
| Swindon | York | |
| Wakefield | ||
| Warwick & Leamington Spa | ||
| Wellingborough | ||
| Weston-Super-Mare | ||
| Whittlesey | ||
| Wokingham | ||
| Wolverhampton | ||
| Worcester | ||
| Worthing | ||
| Yaxley | ||
| York |
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that CityFibre has already completed their primary builds for several locations, including Binley Woods, Solihull, Stirling, March, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Coventry, Yaxley and Inverness. But we should add that the operator is still extending coverage (i.e. beyond their original build plan) in many of those.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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This worries me…
One of Cityfibre’s owners is Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi/Emirati State Owned company.
The Financial Times reported that Mubadala Capital, part of Mubadala, had invested in NSO Group — an Israeli tech firm known globally for making hacking software called Pegasus.
Pegasus can be installed remotely without a surveillance target ever having to open a document or website link.
Reports revealed that the UAE targeted human rights activists, journalists and Princess Haya using the Pegasus spyware.
Is it just me or should we be paying more attention to who owns our fibre network infrastructure?
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23143205.scotlands-broadband-builder-linked-israeli-spyware/
Mubadala Capital would not and could not even ask CityFibre to adopt such a solution into their network, which I believe may actually be illegal unless first approved by the UK Government (they already have their own methods via GCHQ and the IPAct). But more importantly, Mubadala Capital is an investment company focused upon making money and not an IT security / spying firm itself.
@Mark True they wouldn’t be able to use it on the network.
However, as someone else said… “Despite the billions it spends on PR and whitewashing its abuses, the Emirate regime is a brutal and authoritarian dictatorship, and I would be concerned about it having any aspect of influence or control over our vital infrastructure”.
There’s been many reports concerning the UAE’s questionable human rights record.
However, unfortunately making money will always trump human rights.
If you’re concerned about the UAE wait until you hear about China and how much of their communist equipment is part of the UK infrastructure
Are you surprised that people are happy to look the other way when someone’s waving around £800,000,000 ? That’s a lot of zeros.
“As list of UK places” seems to me a generous description of the list given that Wales and NI are completely absent from it as far as I can see.
CityFibre are not building in Wales or NI, but are in Scotland and England. Last time I checked Scotland and England form a significant proportion of the UK…
“A list of UK places” seems to me a generous description of the list given that Wales and NI are completely absent from it as far as I can see.
Jon,
Cityfibres website says they are building across the UK. If they are not building in Wales or NI then this can be seen as misleading as the UK is made up of four nations. Great Britain is made up of three nations, so it may have been better to say they are building across parts of Britain, or just say across England and Scotland. That is, of course, unless they plan in the future to build across all four nations of the UK.
Irrelevant really as they’ll be swallowed up by Virgin Media soon.
With their lovely customer service and pricing strategy…..
Stop fretting anonymous! Makes no sense for VM to buy CF and make it part of their integrated network, they’d lose a packet doing that as they’d over-pay for an asset and then cut off the income stream that is primarily other ISPs. That would also put them in breach of competition law. No reason they couldn’t also make their dreadful pricing and appalling customer service available over CF if they were to buy it, but so long as there’s wholesale access that doesn’t matter. This does fit with what Liberty Global have said they want to do alongside VMO2, and its important to note that their wholesale ambitions do sit outside the VMO2 sphere of chaos.
The only reason for buying CF would be for somebody who wants to own a wholesale network, although given the frenetic state of the altnet market that also includes those who want to own a wholesale network for a period of time merely to sell it on at a higher price.
Wokingham has only just started getting CityFibre.
It’s certainly not across the area.
Is the list accurate? I know they are building in Maidstone, Kent.
They definitely are, just around the corner from me!
Maybe this updated list has been produced to present to Virgin Media (or other prospective buyer) to drum up interest in the purchase of Cityfibre?
Unlikely they’d need to use press leaks to drum up interest.
If CF’s owners want to sell it, then all potential buyers will be able to access information that’s not in the public domain. For a trade sale of a private company there’s no rules on this (as there would be for a listed company), but the process would be similar: CF’s owners would appoint a City deal broker, and they’d make available a detailed information memorandum to any serious potential buyer. It’s the job of the investment banks to know who’s interested in what at any given time, and they’d actively tout any asset to the funds and investors who are likely to want to invest the right sort of money in this particular sector.
The IM wouldn’t have seriously confidential information in it but would include anything that ISP Review can print plus a bit more, the broker vets the prospective buyers, and then in a further round, buyers who have been vetted and signed NDAs would have access to a deal room that’s populated with the important and truly confidential stuff – network maps, expansion plans, detailed financials, the business plan, all legal agreements and major contracts the company has (both sales by CF and suppliers to CF), lists of assets, locations, copies of leases, staff numbers and costs, lists of the top staff and their contracts. After the buyers have rifled the data room, they’re invited to bid, and the owners consider if they wish to accept those bids.
If an address is incapable of getting service then by definition it is not ready for service. Meaningless distinction and difference between the 2
Not really. Construction to a property may be complete, it may be passed by a live network, but the interconnects to ISPs providing the services aren’t there yet.
The actual PON having light and there being ISPs connected to it via CityFibre’s FEX are different things.
…so it is not ready for service
If a fox identifies as a chicken, it does not stop being a fox
CityFibre are an exclusively wholesale provider. From their point of view if they’ve a lit PON to a property it’s ready for service.
From the fox’s point of view, he also sees himself as a chicken to fool and predate on the chickens
Society is getting a lot of problems because people do not call a spade a spade
when iscity fibre coming to central middlesbrough neither city fibre otr open reach will give a date
If the purchase of Cityfibre by Virgin Media (or anyone else) goes ahead, will there be any warning? Or will we just wake up one morning with an announcement that it’s happened?
Is it possible the purchase of Cityfibre is already happening quietly in the background?
You’d likely first get an announcement that the deal us going ahead, then another when it gets/fails CMA approval and another when the sale is complete.
Virgin Media won’t buy Cityfibre, their parent company Liberty Global will. LG have made their wholesale ambitions clear.
It’s barely live in Norwich, only a few streets can get it
Common for exaggerated claims to be made. When they claim an areas is liver they frequently mean just one street and it can be years before they complete the build that’s if they do. IT is not uncommon to abandon areas part way through a build
They’ve laid the fibre down my street but their website says they have not plans for my area yet. They’re still building round town in Kettering. Confused!!!