First Homes Live on CityFibre’s Project Gigabit Broadband Network in Hampshire UPDATE
Network operator CityFibre has today announced that the first customers have gone live on their new 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network in Hampshire (England), which is being built as part of their £104m state aid supported Project Gigabit contract (Lot 27) – this aims to reach more than 75,000 extra premises across hard-to-reach rural areas.
The operator, which is supported by ISPs like Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet and many more (Sky Broadband to go live soon), already covers around 4.4 million (4.2m RFS) UK premises with full fibre broadband – mostly in urban areas – and their ambition is to cover up to 8m (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and nearly £1bn of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK.
Over the past couple of years, CityFibre has also secured ten Project Gigabit contracts. In total, over 1.3 million additional homes and businesses stand to benefit from CityFibre’s Project Gigabit rollout over the next 5-years, with the latest project area to start going live being within their Hampshire patch.
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The first homes have just been connected on Hayling Island, which sits just off the south coast of England. Build completion on the Hampshire contract was originally anticipated for March 2029 (here).
Telecoms Minister Chris Bryant, said:
“Communities across remote parts of Hampshire will soon see the back of connectivity drop-outs and constant buffering with this installation of lightning-fast broadband.
We recently launched our Digital Inclusion Action Plan, setting out our next steps to shrink the digital gap. Today’s news is a fantastic example of how a Government-backed contract will help ensure people in rural areas are not left behind and have the tools they need to work and thrive in the digital age.”
Simon Holden, Group Chief Operations Officer at CityFibre, said:
“Reliable, high-speed broadband is more than just a convenience, it’s a necessity for work, education and everyday life. Thanks to this investment from Project Gigabit, Hampshire is set to reap the benefits of full fibre and unlock better opportunities for residents and businesses. CityFibre is proud to provide this essential infrastructure to drive digital progress and support the local community’s future.”
The subsidy from BDUK also compliments CityFibre’s own commercial investment across the area of Havant, which will enable even more areas of Hampshire to access full fibre broadband. CityFibre is based in London and is owned by funds managed by Antin Infrastructure Partners, Infrastructure at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mubadala Investment Company, Interogo Holding, Newlight Partners and PATRIZIA’s European Infrastructure Fund II.
UPDATE 7:57pm
We queried this release with CityFibre as it didn’t appear to reflect the recent contract extension. A CityFibre spokesperson told ISPreview: “We’re pleased to confirm that since CityFibre’s initial contract win we’re now able to reach even more properties across Hampshire. BDUK awarded CityFibre over £23m in additional Project Gigabit subsidy to reach over 10,000 more premises across the area.”
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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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Hayling Island had good VM coverage from what I can remember. Not too sure why they’ve got state funding for this, unless its covering an area that wasn’t covered by VM
Virgin Media is present in the more built-up south side of the island, while CityFibre’s build is currently more focused on the rural northern half. But of course CF may overbuild some of VM using their own commercial investment too, separate from Project Gigabit.
Still no news from CF as to where they will be spending the rest of the BDUK money… Do we really have to wait half a decade to see if their diggers turn up? If they’re not going to build then fine, there’s other solutions, but at least tell us…
This. A million times over. The fact that they still can’t provide the basic answer to the question “is my address covered by the subsidy?”, this long after contract award, is ridiculous. I understand they need time to survey areas, but they could at least provide an answer on if the address is in scope and an estimated completion quarter or something.
Yep. “Commercially sensitive” apparently. How? Why? This is over £100 million of public funds disappeared into a black hole.
But I got an answer by going through my MP whose department put me in touch with DSIT. And guess what, it is a “no”. If you are urban and you’ve been ignored by everyone, you simply get left out.
Cityfibre won’t and can’t tell you where they’ll be spending the rest of the BDUK money because they haven’t got a clue themselves.
All very chaotic, very little planning and forward thinking but it doesn’t matter as it’s just taxpayer’s money!
@DF – Drop the hate and concentrate on pushing those Mobile SIM cards.
Hi Mark.
With Fife Scotland part of project gigabit will city fibre roll in Fife
The Project Gigabit lot for Fife, Perth & Kinross (Lot 4) hasn’t been officially awarded yet, as procurement is still ongoing. My guess is that a company like GoFibre may be the successful bidder for Lot 4, as I don’t see CityFibre looking at rural Scotland with much appetite.