TFW Fibre Delivers First Commercial Contract for Railway Fibre Network in Wales

Network operator TfW Ffeibr (TFW Fibre), which is an arm’s-length initiative setup by Transport for Wales (TfW) and thus the Welsh Government, has today announced the delivered of its “first commercial fibre connectivity contract” with Cloud Centres Networks for the fibre that runs alongside local railways.

Just to recap. Toward the end of last year TfW Ffeibr announced that they had built a new full fibre broadband network alongside several railways and were offering access to help serve local communities (here). This occurred along the South Wales Metro and while carrying out huge infrastructure changes to electrify the railway line in the South Wales Valleys.

In short, the new operator was established to offer internet service providers (ISP) and other network operators access to the new infrastructure via wholesale. The first such company to harness this will now be Cloud Centres Networks (CCN), which is a colocation and server hosting provider for South Wales and the West of England.

Ffeibr’s first commercial project involved designing and implementing a dark fibre solution to connect Cardiff University’s main campus with CCN’s data facility in South Wales. The custom-designed route was key in relocating the university’s High Performance Computing (HPC) programme, ensuring the move was secure and integrated seamlessly with their existing systems.

Alexia Course, Chief Commercial Officer at TfW, said:

“ffeibr’s delivery for Cloud Centres Networks and Cardiff University is a clear demonstration of how public sector innovation can drive real impact.

As a joint initiative between TfW and the Welsh Government’s Transport & Digital Connectivity Division, ffeibr is unlocking new value from public assets to support Wales’ digital future.”

Lee Evans, Assistant IT Director at Cardiff University, said:

“In my 35 years in the technology sector I have never seen a company deliver a project of this complexity in such a short time frame.

ffeibr’s transparency, professionalism and ability to manage expectations left a legacy of trust. They did not just want to win the business they wanted to get it right.”