CityFibre appoints Svella Connect to lead £32m Full Fibre rollout across Barnsley

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent Full Fibre platform, has announced the appointment of a new build partner to lead its £32m investment in digital infrastructure across Barnsley.

Svella Connect has been selected to deliver the construction programme on CityFibre’s behalf, using modern build techniques to deploy the network quickly. The team will work closely with CityFibre, Barnsley Council and local communities to manage disruption and ensure a fast and successful rollout.

Mobilisation is now underway with Svella Connect to replace the previous build partner and construction is due to begin again in early 2022. Throughout the project residents will be kept informed by direct mailings ahead of works in their streets beginning.

As part of the private investment from CityFibre, Barnsley will benefit from a town-wide network rollout that will bring Full Fibre broadband connectivity – the best technology for the job – within reach of nearly every home and business in the town.

Natalie Ward, CityFibre’s City Manager for Barnsley, said: “We are delighted to have appointed a new build partner so quickly who we know will really help ramp up our operation in the town. Already this year we have made significant progress and we aim to accelerate even faster throughout 2022.

“CityFibre is leading the charge in South Yorkshire to make Full Fibre available to the people and businesses of Barnsley and we look forward to this transformative technology being available in even more homes very soon.”

Gavin Davies, Svella Connect Managing Director, said: “This appointment as a build partner is great news for Svella Connect and it’s exciting for us to lead such an important multi-million pound infrastructure project which will see homes and businesses benefit from a modern, hybrid network.

“It reinforces our position as a key infrastructure partner to CityFibre, supporting its nationwide connectivity targets, and will see us further expand and strengthen our delivery teams in Yorkshire.”

Currently, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) is only available to around 28 per cent of premises across the UK. It is revered as the best 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).

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and register their interest at: www.cityfibre.com/PR-Register