After recent forays in rural Cambridgeshire and Aberdeenshire, gigabit connectivity provider CityFibre has turned its attention to the Thames Valley, completing its full-fibre network in some parts of the UK’s IT heartland of England, in Slough and Reading.
The fast-growing former altnet and now the UK’s third-largest broadband infrastructure provider says the roll-out means thousands of residents can now order services from a range of national internet service providers, such as Vodafone, TalkTalk, IDNet, Zen Internet and local internet service providers including Giganet and PureFibre.
The development is said to mark a major milestone in CityFibre’s multi-million pound projects across the region, which aims to future-proof Slough, Reading, Bracknell and Maidenhead’s economic growth by supporting the growing data consumption of residents and businesses. CityFibre is aiming for the build to be substantially completed in the Thames Valley by 2024.
CityFibre calculates that full-fibre is currently available to less than 30% of UK premises, making residents of the Thames Valley some of the first in the country to benefit from the best available digital communications technology in their homes. Specific areas where services have now gone live include Britwell and Wexham in Slough, and Tilehurst and Norcot in Reading.
Our projects in Bracknell and Maidenhead are also progressing at pace, with live service not far behind in Jennett’s Park and North Town, respectively. Once the entire build has been completed, almost every home and business in all four towns will have access to future-proof full-fibre broadband.
Speaking of the latest deployment, Stacey King, CityFibre’s city manager for the Thames Valley, said: “We’re really pleased to be offering communities across Slough, Reading, Bracknell and Maidenhead all the benefits full-fibre connectivity has to offer.
We’d like to thank the residents in the area who have been extremely patient with us as we have built our infrastructure. We now look forward to expanding our horizons and offering more people in the region the opportunity to connect to our network, unlocking unbeatable homeworking, home learning and digital entertainment experiences.”
In November 2021, CityFibre racked up its millionth home in its nationwide network roll-out, after receiving more than £1.25bn of new investment and extending its network build partnership with engineering and construction giant Bechtel. CityFibre currently has 26 construction companies mobilised and in build across more than 60 towns and cities, and claims to be the current largest provider of full-fibre lines in more than 25 locations.
By the end of 2022, CityFibre plans to have builds underway across more than 150 cities, towns and villages before expanding to 285 by 2025. The networks are based on PON technology, meaning they can be upgraded to 10, 50, 100Gbps and beyond without any changes to the underlying network infrastructure. They serve all core market verticals including consumer, business, public sector and mobile operators.
