CityFibre appoints new lead for Portsmouth’s full fibre rollout

22 June 2021: CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has hired a new City Manager to lead the rollout of its £32m infrastructure investment in Portsmouth which will future-proof the city’s digital ambitions.

Jonathan Russell will be the main point of contact between stakeholders and the CityFibre team, ensuring the rollout of city-wide full fibre infrastructure continues to be implemented with minimal disruption to the Portsmouth community.

He will be taking over from Lucy Cooper who has now been promoted to Regional Partnership Director, and will spearhead the project which will deliver faster and more reliable internet services for residents, businesses and public services.

Jonathan has lived and worked on the South coast for 20 years. Before joining CityFibre, Jonathan worked with Portsmouth based social housing organisation VIVD Homes following a 30-year career in journalism, communications and public affairs. During this time, he worked with BT on the relaunch of its consumer broadband brand.

Jonathan said: “As a Southsea local, it’s a real honour to be given the responsibility of leading this project which will make a genuine difference to thousands of people and businesses across the city.

“Lucy and her team have forged a strong partnership with Portsmouth City Council and built positive, long lasting relationships across many communities which I will seek to build on.

“While any project of this scale isn’t without its challenges, the benefits of full fibre are immense. It is already proving a game-changer for households and businesses who are connected to the network and it’s our mission to ensure that as many people across Portsmouth can access this technology.”

Construction work has already been completed in several areas across Portsmouth, including parts of Southsea, Fratton, Milton and Eastney with work also underway in Copnor and Burrfields. The works are being carried out by CCN Communications Ltd, CityFibre’s build partner.

In some areas of Portsmouth where work is now complete, full fibre broadband services are being delivered by Giganet and DigitalHome, with TalkTalk and other Internet Services Providers (ISPs) expected to join the network soon.

Lucy Cooper, Regional Partnership Director at CityFibre, added: “Jonathan knows Portsmouth well, and has the right skills and experience to drive the project forward for the benefit of households and businesses across the city.

“Our ‘fibre to the premises’ programme is going to be a game changer in Portsmouth and nobody is better placed than Jonathan to drive home this message and help people discover more about the impact this investment will have on Portsmouth’s digital future.”

Portsmouth residents can find out more about the build, check whether services are live and register their interest: www.cityfibre.com/your-street

ENDS

Issued on behalf of CityFibre by Weber Shandwick. For more information or images, contact: Laura McLean at lmclean@webershandwick.com

Notes to Editors:

About CityFibre:

CityFibre is the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform. With existing networks in more than 60 towns and cities, CityFibre provides wholesale connectivity to multiple business and consumer service providers, local authorities and mobile operators.

CityFibre has network rollouts underway with plans to pass up to 8 million homes and businesses with open-access full fibre infrastructure. A growing number of Gigabit City projects have been announced for full-city rollouts and CityFibre continues to prime its existing network assets for expansion.

CityFibre is based in London and is jointly controlled by Antin Infrastructure Partners and West Street Infrastructure Partners.