CityFibre Begin Project Gigabit Broadband Build in Leicestershire and Warwickshire

Network operator CityFibre has today announced that they’ve begun the roll-out phase of their £77m state-aid supported Project Gigabit contract for the Leicestershire and Warwickshire (Lot 11) area. This will extend their 10Gbps capable FTTP broadband network to an additional 45,000 hard-to-reach rural premises in those regions.

Curiously, the figures given in Cityfibre’s announcement today differ from those they gave when the contract was announced in February 2024 (here), which specified a contract value of £71m and planned coverage for 38,000 premises. This suggests a modest extension may have taken place since the deal was signed. The first premises under this contract were originally also anticipated (here) to have access to gigabit-capable broadband in 2024.

Sadly, today’s announcement doesn’t provide any details of where CityFibre are starting to build or how long it will take to complete the deployment, which is a bit disappointing. But hopefully more information will be forthcoming in the future.

Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said:

“Families and businesses across Leicestershire and Warwickshire will soon be reaping the benefits of lightning-fast broadband.

Thanks to this government-backed project, we are not only giving rural communities the infrastructure they need to thrive in today’s digital world, but enabling students to engage in online learning, improving access to quality healthcare, and securing more jobs in the area.”

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said:

“Helping hard-to-reach homes and businesses across Leicestershire and Warwickshire to access full fibre will enable residents to stay and thrive within their communities by unlocking new possibilities. Leaving behind the limitations of copper technology and improving vital infrastructure will provide a significant boost for the local economy, making the regions among the best connected in the country.”

The operator, which is supported by various ISPs like Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet and more (Sky Broadband will follow in 2025), already covers around 4 million UK premises with full fibre broadband – mostly in urban areas – and their ambition is to eventually cover up to 8m (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK.

Over the past couple of years CityFibre has secured nine Project Gigabit contracts, totalling over £782m in government subsidies to serve more than 464,000 hard to reach rural premises across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes.

The network operator has also committed their own funding to help build commercially beyond this those contracted areas (i.e. a total of £1.2bn in combined public and private investment or 1.366 million extra premises may be delivered as a result of these contracts).