As Google Fiber launches another city in the USA, CityFibre is developing plans for further 'Gigabit Cities' in the UK

CityFibre was very pleased to hear that Google have taken the next step in its plan to bring gigabit connectivity to the masses by selecting Austin in Texas as the second city to take part in its Google Fiber project.

Already a huge success in Kansas, it comes as no surprise that the local government, businesses and residents in Austin were extremely supportive and excited for Google Fiber to extend to their city in 2014. We have followed Google Fiber's series of YouTube videos with great interest, to hear about the difference that gigabit connectivity will make to these cities.

Currently working with many cities across the UK who are seeking to benefit from gigabit speeds, CityFibre intend to select a number of UK towns and cities to become 'Gigabit Cities' within the next 12 months.

CityFibre builds and operates ultrafast pure fibre networks that are transforming towns and cities throughout the UK. These Gigabit Cities bring the huge benefits of gigabit connectivity to every level and community within a city - from the public sector, to education, healthcare, emergency services, businesses, mobile operators and the residents. As a result, a Gigabit City increases governmental efficiencies, brings educations capabilities up to world-class standards and improves healthcare. It sparks the UK’s economy, helping businesses to compete globally by unlocking access to new services such as cloud computing, and with gigabit connectivity to the home, it significantly improves the services that residents receive and enriches their quality of life. The end result is a city transformed by ubiquitous fibre connectivity.

A shining example of such a city is York. Initially providing all schools, libraries and council facilities with a future-proof gigabit fibre and powering their free municipal WiFi initiative, CityFibre has now further extended the reach of the network to connect hospitals, emergency services and CCTV operations. Also launched is 'The York CORE', a partnership to provide York’s businesses ith access to world-class connectivity services, which will unlock access to cloud-based services, video-conferencing and hugely increase the efficiency and productivity of York’s businesses. The final phase of this Gigabit City will see the roll-out of fibre to York's 80,000 homes. At the end of last year, CityFibre won a prestigious NextGen 12 award for its collaboration with the City Of York Council and the success of the project.

CityFibre is currently the largest provider of Open Access FTTH in the UK. Residents are an important audience in CityFibre's broadband vision, especially considering the growing number of home-workers. In conjunction with Bournemouth City Council, CityFibre delivered the first phase of its FTTH network to 24,000 homes – all now ready to take gigabit services. CityFibre has connected its first ISP, called Gigler, who is providing the UK's fastest residential broadband (1 Gigabit per second download speeds) from as little as £25 per month.

Greg Mesch, chief executive officer at CityFibre commented: "We believe that the UK should not settle for second best when it comes to communications infrastructure. Our Gigabit City oncept allows the whole community to participate - schools, government, mobile operators, data centres, businesses and ultimately the consumers. With a 'Gigabit for all' model, we will enrich and stimulate UK society, and the benefits for the economy are significant. A Gigabit rich city can increase GDP by over 1% and create thousands of new jobs for residents. But, we will only see these results if we are all in this together. Like Google Fiber's project, the whole city needs to get behind this notion and bring the power of Gigabit connectivity to their city."