CityFibre UK Completes Primary FTTP Broadband Build in Aberdeen
Network access provider CityFibre, which has so far built their 2.5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 4.3 million UK premises (4.1m Ready for Service), have confirmed the completion of their “primary” £59m build in the city of Aberdeen (Scotland).
The long-running network deployment, which was originally announced in February 2018 (here), has now built to over 105,000 homes in Aberdeen (around 97% of the city’s premises) via over 762km of new fibre cable. The full fibre network also connects more than 160 public sector sites, including council offices, schools, libraries and leisure centres (this bit is more akin to Dark Fibre).
As usual, CityFibre aren’t the only gigabit-capable broadband network present in the city, with Aberdeen also being home to significant FTTP coverage from Openreach’s network. On top of that there are several smaller deployments from Hyperoptic, OFNL, Grain and probably others.
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The operator said they would now “continue to explore opportunities to connect more homes and businesses, including flats, new-build homes, business parks and homes on private roads.”
Paul Wakefield, Partnership Manager at CityFibre, said:
“We’re really excited to have finished our primary build in Aberdeen. Across the city, residents can now access all the benefits full fibre connectivity has to offer, enabling more people in the area unlock seamless homeworking, streaming and learning.
“Aberdeen’s economic strength and vitality make it a cornerstone of prosperity, not just for Scotland, but for the entire UK, and we look forward to building on our previous success powering the city’s future economic development.”
The alternative network operator, which has so far attracted 518,000 live customers and also expects to have upgraded their entire network to 10Gbps capable XGS-PON technology by mid-2025 (here), 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 still 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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No articles on the govt forcing apple to remove data protections on users, leaving pretty much everyone open to hackers and a gross destruction of privacy
Oddly enough, no, not in an article about the CityFibre build in Aberdeen.
It’s Friday evening. Mark has a life.
Hang on a minute, this post about Cityfibre has been live for around 4 hours and DF hasn’t made any cutting comments yet!
Are you OK DF?
Cityfibre has missed off two areas of Aberdeen City completely. Looks like I’ll have to wait for Openreach.
Peterculter would be one of those areas wouldn’t it? Where is the second?
Peterculter & Milltimber
105,000 premises at a cost of £59 million is £561.90 per premise. Assume a take up of 20% (probably a bit generous considering the competition already there), then that’s £2809 per connection. I wonder how much ARPU they’d need just to pay the interest on the debt.
Dubious on the claim it cost £59 million to be honest. Project might have been budgeted at that but what they actually spent all in may be quite different.
How can you take anything Cityfibre say seriously?
This is the same company that claim they’re making a profit but accidentally forgot to take into account the repayments they’re having to make on their huge dept, meaning they’re not making any profit at all but going deeper into the red.
They forgot nothing, they stated it was EBITDA.
That the best you have?
@Polish Poler – Cityfibre referred to it as their “first full year of profitability“.
EBITA is not profit, it’s earnings. They are two very different things and EBITA is certainly not profit.
In accounting earnings are revenue – expenses. EBITDA is an accounting term. When companies do their earnings call, announce their earnings per share and you go to the stock quote and see a price:earnings ratio they aren’t talking about revenue.
Business accounts work quite differently from a private individuals.
If EBITDA isn’t profitability, then City fibre themselves should not announce it as such, especially when it conveniently ignores the enormous debt burden the business has.
Very simply, it’s clear they’re not making profit although they’re trying to mislead people by claiming “first full year of profitability“.