Flotek to Supply Full Fibre Services via Elevate’s New Cardiff Hypercity Network

Network operator Elevate Wholesale (formerly Telcom) has today announced its first strategic ISP and comms provider partner, Flotek, for the new Hypercity fibre optic broadband and Ethernet network that they’ve been contracted to build across Cardiff in South Wales.

Just to recap. The Cardiff Council (Gyngor Caerdydd) has long been aware that patches of the city still lack any commercial upgrade plans for gigabit broadband and suffer from sub-30Mbps broadband speeds, which is what they’ve been trying to improve – using a £7.7m funding boost from the Welsh Government that was first awarded in 2022 (here) via the Local Broadband Fund (LBF).

Last year we reported that Telcom had won a contract to deliver the first phase of this network roll-out (here), which is understood to have delivered the new fibre connectivity to 79 sites, both residential and commercial. The same operator was then contracted to deliver Phase 2, which once again focused on premises identified as high on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) and is due to complete by March 2025 (here).

The main development on this today is that Elevate, the new name of Telcom, has signed its first strategic partner for the new network – communications provider Flotek. This will allow Flotek to provide high speed full fibre (FTTP) broadband and Dedicated Internet (Leased Line) services to 5,000+ Cardiff based businesses, “satisfying the digital divide that previously existed in the city with many of those businesses previously reliant on legacy copper infrastructure – suffering from poor internet services as a result“.

Will Goodall, Head of Elevate Wholesale, said:

“We are delighted to have onboarded Flotek as our first strategic partner for Cardiff as we prepare to support the region in its quest to access hyperfast internet. As the administrative, cultural, and commercial centre of Wales, it’s critical that businesses across the region have equitable access to digital technologies & we’re so excited to have a leading, local technology partner on board to drive this for us.”

Jay Ball, CEO at Flotek, said:

“Having worked with local Cardiff businesses for over 20 years, we understand the challenges of accessing high-speed internet in our capital. Being chosen as a strategic partner to deliver this critical service means we can now help more businesses grow by embracing digital services that were previously out of reach. High-speed and reliable internet is essential for cloud services, and this partnership allows businesses to access these services without the high costs they were accustomed to. This new network will either provide access to previously unattainable services or significantly reduce their internet connectivity expenses by offering a more affordable solution.”