CityFibre’s extends its gigabit grip on Edinburgh

CityFibre has inked a deal that’ll see it’s gigabit broadband services piped to hundreds more premises in Edinburgh. 

This rollout of full FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) services will give schools, council buildings and businesses access to download and upload speeds of up to 1Gbps (1,000Mbps), far above and beyond the UK national average. 

Thousands of premises across the Scottish capital will be able to tap into ultrafast services thanks to the fibre optic network which will span 100 kilometres once complete. 

Related: CityFibre expands ultrafast broadband networks in Edinburgh and AberdeenIt’s not clear exactly how many premises will be able to access full fibre services, but CityFibre puts the figure at around 500. In 12 months time, the project will reach 294 council sites including 137 primary and secondary schools in Edinburgh. 

Edinburgh residents who fancy getting some fibre into their homes will have to wait however – while CityFibre’s core networks can become springboards for future commercial rollouts (as has happened in Bournemouth) there are no immediate plans for this to happen. 

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre said: “This is CityFibre’s largest contract to date and in such a prestigious city as Edinburgh, it is a landmark in our growth as a firm. 
 
“This contract solidifies the power of our Gigabit City model and indicates the appetite from city leaders to embrace a new generation of infrastructure. In our Gigabit Cities, we are now a true infrastructure alternative to BT Openreach.”

As well as providing businesses with high capacity services, CityFibre’s Gigabit Cities model also allows for things like 4K Ultra HD CCTV cameras to be set up in cities – careless drivers beware. 

Down in York, CityFibre continues to make progress with a joint venture that’s seeing TalkTalk and Sky selling FTTP services to customers, instead of using BT’s Openreach network. 

If the trial is successful, it could pave the way for a CityFibre-powered network that puts gigabit broadband within reach of 10 million British homes and businesses.