Breaking ground on Peterborough’s digital transformation

Work to transform Peterborough into one of the world’s most digitally connected cities kicked off this week. Homes and businesses across Peterborough have come a step closer to accessing next-generation full fibre connectivity for the first time now that CityFibre has started construction work to extend its infrastructure throughout the city. Work started in the city on Monday 9 July with the first full fibre services due to go live later this year. This latest phase of development represents £30m private investment from CityFibre as part of its ambitious partnership with Vodafone which aims to deliver full fibre connectivity to 1m UK homes and businesses by 2021. Using modern build techniques to deploy the network quickly and to minimise disruption, the city-wide roll out is expected to last 24 months. Andy Starnes, head of city development at CityFibre, said: “We’re at a really exciting stage of our fibre-to-the-premises roll out in Peterborough as the build work gets underway. Peterborough has worked hard to establish itself as a digital leader and has already been recognised globally for smart city initiatives. “We also know from a recent study we commissioned with economic consultancy Regeneris that wider smart city enablement, from home automation technologies to smart energy networks and intelligent transportation systems, could add as much as £54m to Peterborough’s local economy as well as many more positive impacts across the city. Full fibre connectivity sits at the heart of Peterborough City Council’s vision and we look forward to seeing how the city is transformed when full fibre connectivity is made available city-wide.” John Holdich OBE, Leader of Peterborough City Council said: “We welcome CityFibre and Vodafone’s decision to choose Peterborough as one of the first cities in their fibre-to-the-premises roll-out. Peterborough City Council has worked closely with CityFibre for years to develop and expand the reach of their full fibre network. It has become a platform for our Smart City initiatives, helps us attract businesses and develop our emerging tech sector. With this extension of the project, the full benefits will soon be felt by everyone who lives and works in the city.” Since 2013, most of the city’s schools, council offices and the main hospital, as well as hundreds of businesses, have connected to the current Gigabit City network to gain access to ultrafast symmetrical speeds, increased reliability and near limitless bandwidth. Earlier this year, high-definition CCTV and traffic management cameras were also added to the network, helping to improve the city environment for residents too. Currently, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) is only available to less than four 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 Peterborough. 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 Peterborough click here.