Breaking ground on Coventry’s digital transformation

CityFibre’s work to transform Coventry into one of the world’s most digitally connected cities has begun in Longford Coventry residents and their neighbouring businesses are a step closer to accessing next-generation full fibre connectivity after CityFibre started construction work to extend its state-of-the-art infrastructure throughout the city. This latest phase of development is part of CityFibre’s national Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) project, which aims to bring full fibre to up to one million UK premises by 2021 in partnership with Vodafone. The construction project will trial partial aerial deployment as well as traditional build methods. Longford, Upper Stoke, Foleshill and Holbrook are set to be the first wards to benefit. Pivotal to the Coventry project is the recent appointment of Leigh Hunt as City Development Manager for CityFibre, who will act as a local point of contact for all city stakeholders, while also being a key advocate for the project and the benefits it will bring to businesses and the wider community. She brings with her over two decades of experience in the technology and connectivity sector, including ten years as an e-business advisor. Leigh said: “We’re at a really exciting stage of our roll-out in Coventry as the build gets underway. This project comes at a key time for the city and the £60m investment from CityFibre will be transformational for residents and businesses alike. With the advent of ultrafast, full fibre broadband, residents of Coventry will be able to enjoy and take advantage of a range of possibilities.” Coventry is the fourth citywide FTTP project to get underway as part of the CityFibre and Vodafone partnership. It is now following in the footsteps of build projects in Milton Keynes, Aberdeen and Peterborough, which started earlier this year and are now well on their way towards serving their first customers. Once complete, this private investment will futureproof Coventry’s infrastructure and deliver digital transformation across the city. According to research by economic consultancy Regeneris, the local housing market could increase in value by £101m, while businesses could unlock £57m through increased productivity and innovation as a result of full fibre access over the next 15 years. Cllr Richard Brown, chair of the Audit and Procurement committee at Coventry City Council, added: “We are all well aware of the importance of effective communications. People buying or renting a new home and new starter businesses will weigh up a list of factors when considering where to locate, and the quality of digital communications is crucial. This will benefit households and will further retain businesses in Coventry.” Currently, full fibre is available to less than five per cent of premises across the UK. It is revered as the ‘gold standard’ in connectivity for its speed, near unlimited bandwidth and reliability. By using fibre optic cables for every stage of the connection from the customer’s home or business to the Internet, users will be offered a significantly superior and more reliable broadband service, capable of Gigabit speeds (1,000 Mbps). Vodafone will use CityFibre’s network to bring Vodafone Gigafast Broadband to residential customers in Coventry. To find out more and register your interest visit: www.vodafone.co.uk/gigafast To find out more about CityFibre’s Gigabit City vision for Coventry visit: www.cityfibre.com/coventry.