Several Yorkshire locations identified in £2.5bn full fibre investment

Several Yorkshire towns and cities have this morning been named as locations to receive full fibre connectivity as part of a nationwide £2.5bn investment plan. 

Listed firm CityFibre has today announced a new £2.5bn full fibre investment plan, identifying 37 towns and cities where it already has critical fibre spine assets as primed for expansion for fibre-to-the-home.

CityFibre’s rollout will deliver to five million homes and corresponds to one third of the Government’s 2025 target of 15 million homes. The scale of its plan means it will be awarding city and town-wide construction contracts across the country for several years to come.

CityFibre’s whole-city build approach ensures that, once completed, nearly every home and business in its footprint will have access to transformational full fibre connectivity, putting each of these 37 towns and cities on a new footing as they join the Gigabit City Club. The investment plan will deliver a large-scale open-access platform reaching a fifth of the UK’s consumer market, providing choice for internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile network operators, while complementing other national digital infrastructure developments underway.

With Vodafone as its first consumer ISP customer, CityFibre’s fibre-to-the-home builds, construction is due to start in  Huddersfield before the end of this year and Leeds shortly afterwards.

Yorkshire towns and cities named as part of the 37 locations with existing CityFibre infrastructure primed to receive additional investment are Bradford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Harrogate, Rotherham , Sheffield and Wakefield.

 Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre said: “With a head-start in 37 towns and cities, this full fibre investment plan enables us to further accelerate our rollout, catalysing huge economic growth in regional towns and cities across the country and transforming the UK’s digital future.

“Our rollout will soon bring to scale an innovative wholesale network, providing internet service providers and mobile network operators with greater choice and unrivalled technical capabilities, benefitting all sectors of the market.

 “We now need to work together across Government, Ofcom and industry to create a level-playing field that continues to encourage investment from multiple network operators, so that full fibre can be delivered as quickly and effectively as possible.”

 Councillor James Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for resource and sustainability, said: “Leeds City Council is delighted to hear about CityFibre’s ambitious plans to develop a new full fibre network in Leeds. Encouraging and facilitating investment from private sector providers like CityFibre is an important part of our strategy to help us realise our ambition that all premises in the district, residential and commercial, are able to access gigabit capable services and take advantage of new technologies and new ways of living and working.”