CityFibre launches FTTP network in Bristol

CityFibre is to launch a fibre to the premise (FTTP) network in Bristol using infrastructure gained in its £90 million acquisition of KCOM’s fibre assets outside Hull and East Yorkshire last month.

The network will initially be based on 82 kilometres of fibre already in place in the city and CityFibre will hold a marketing campaign in February to raise awareness about the service. Feedback from local businesses will help the company map demand for expansion.

It is claimed the new network will help support businesses in the area and support local authorities’ ambition of creating a smart city. CityFibre will partner with Triangle Networks, a local ISP, to encourage businesses to switch to 1Gbps speeds and unlock their potential.

“Bristol is already a UK leader in digital innovation, but its business community has not yet had the opportunity to take full-advantage,” said Greg Mesch, CityFibre CEO. “This project provides that opportunity and I could think of nowhere more exciting to begin our latest project.

“Less than a month after announcing our acquisition of KCOM’s networks, we have begun to commercialise them. As the UK’s largest alternative infrastructure provider, this is the first of many new Gigabit City launches to come on our expanded footprint of 36 cities across the UK.”

CityFibre operates six other ‘gigabit’ networks in Peterborough, Coventry, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and York – the latter of which forms the basis of a joint-venture with Sky and TalkTalk – and has fibre in a number of other cities.

The KCOM deal saw its nationwide footprint increase by 300 percent and now covers 36 cities, with plans to expand this to 50 by the end of the decade, 7,000 mobile sites, 24,500 public sector locations and 245,000 businesses.

Both Three and Vodafone have agreed backhaul deals with CityFibre in recent times but the firm is an opponent of the BT-EE merger, claiming it would harm competition, and also opposes plans by Ofcom to allow third party communications providers to access BT’s dark fibre on the basis it would discourage investment.