CityFibre Complete Primary FTTP Broadband Rollout in Hartlepool
Network operator CityFibre, which has so far extended their 2.5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover around 4 million UK premises, have today confirmed the completion of their “primary” £21m build in the large port town of Hartlepool in County Durham (England).
The original network deployment, which began with the help of civil engineering contractor Granemore Group, first entered the construction phase around September 2022 (here) and was due to complete by 2025. The good news is that CityFibre has now covered “over” 33,000 homes (RFS) or “around 80% of the town’s homes and most businesses“.
Hartlepool is the latest town in CityFibre’s nationwide rollout. But while the primary-build is now complete, CityFibre said they would continue to explore opportunities to connect more homes and businesses, including flats, new-build homes and business parks.
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As usual, CityFibre aren’t the only gigabit-capable broadband network present in the town. For example, both Virgin Media (nexfibre) and Openreach’s networks are already widely available across the location, with Grain (Grain Connect) also having significant FTTP coverage. In addition, both OFNL and Hyperoptic have a small presence.
Steph Carter-Smith, Partnership Manager at CityFibre, said:
“The completion of our primary-build marks a pivotal moment in boosting Hartlepool’s digital capabilities. With state-of-the-art infrastructure now embedded throughout the town, Hartlepool’s residents, businesses and public institutions stand to reap the benefits of full fibre for now and for future generations.”
As full fibre becomes increasingly crucial for the UK’s economic landscape, we are eager to support Hartlepool’s continued progress and drive its future prosperity.”
The alternative network operator currently still aspires to cover up to 8 million UK premises with their new full fibre network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. But quite when they’ll reach that point is unclear, and they’re known to be in need of fresh funding (here).
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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13 months to finish reaching 8m homes with its roll out.
lol
Cityfibre enjoy shouting about RFS numbers.
Don’t hear them shouting about take up rates so much. Funny that isn’t it.
Maybe they need to invest in a decent marketing department? Just an idea.
Like the huge one BT’s wholesale division has? Or PXC? How many marketing people do you think a pure wholesaler covering a couple of million premises should’ve had?
They shouldn’t be marketing to end users at all, only to ISPs. Those are their customers and up to them to drive take up once the build is complete. The marketing should be leaflets before build and upon completion, emails to those who express interest and that’s it for residential customers.
Awful that people lost their jobs and profligate that they were created in the first place. Signing a Sky, TalkTalk or Vodafone is about technology, coverage and pricing, not marketing.