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CityFibre Interview Reveals the Progress of its UK Fibre Optic Broadband Services

Posted: 08th Aug, 2011 By: MarkJ

CityFibre Holdings Ltd., which recently began work to complete the i3 Group's unfinished and 100Mbps+ capable Fibre-to-the-Home ( FTTH ) broadband ISP network in Bournemouth (UK), informs ISPreview.co.uk that it has now "addressed almost all" of the problems that occurred with the previous deployment.

The original i3 Group vision for Bournemouth and other UK cities came to a grinding halt last year after a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the firms financiers, Total Asset Finance, discovered significant problems and effectively left the project without enough cash to continue.

As a result the i3 Group was in January 2011 forced to sell off its UK subsidiaries to CityFibre Holdings UK, which is led by i3's former President and COO Greg Mesch (here). Since then the new group has been struggling to finish the work in Bournemouth but is now finally making progress.

Mark Collins, CityFibre's Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), told ISPreview.co.uk exclusively:

"It’s really important to us that we address residents’ concerns. The main complaints during the original roll-out of the fibre to the home network in Bournemouth by i3 Group was communication and the substandard finish to the pavements following the micro-trenching which is the method the fibre is connected to each property.

Now that CityFibre owns this network, we have pledged to complete and make good the unfinished or substandard works we have inherited. We are pleased to confirm that we have addressed almost all these issues with the full support and approval of Bournemouth Borough Council. In addition, residents likely to be affected by any future works we carry out will be well informed and all roads and pavements disturbed will be reinstated to the highest standard."

Collins, whom was speaking to ISPreview.co.uk as part of an exclusive interview, also shrugged off the growing competition from Virgin Media and BT in the city; both of which plan to deploy their own ultrafast 100Mbps capable services in the area.

Collins added:

"We really want to reiterate that we are not in competition with companies like BT and Virgin, as first we are not a service provider and second, our business is here to help further their plans and ultimately help them to deliver next generation services to their customers. As infrastructure providers, we need to work together to make sure the UK is connected."

Neither BT nor Virgin Media appear to see it that way and are likely to focus on deployments of their own competing infrastructure, as opposed to using a competitor's platform. ISPreview.co.uk's exclusive interview with CityFibre's Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Mark Collins, also touches on a number of other issues from the use of public funds to the projects future plans and its current deployment status.

CityFibre also confirmed to us that they had just completed a project for the City of York Council that connects up over 100 sites including schools, council offices, shopping centres, leisure centres, tourism offices, park and ride locations, and youth and community centres.