CityFibre breaks ground on Worcester’s £21m Full Fibre rollout

03 June 2021: Work to bring full fibre connectivity within reach of almost every home and business in Worcester has now begun, with CityFibre breaking ground on London Road.

The UK’s largest independent Full Fibre platform is investing £21m in a city-wide broadband network that will futureproof Worcester’s digital needs for generations to come.

Along with its build partner, Kier Group, CityFibre is working in close partnership with Worcestershire County Council, Worcester City Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while minimising potential disruption.

Redhill, Whittington and South Warndon are the next areas in line for construction. Each area will usually take a few weeks to complete, however, construction teams will typically only be outside each home for two to three days and CityFibre will be in touch by post ahead of any work starting.

Speaking of the project, Neal Wright, CityFibre’s City Manager for Worcester, said: “I’m immensely proud to see work getting underway in Worcester today. This is the start of an exciting new chapter for the city as it gets ready to thrive in the digital age. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how Worcester will use its new citywide infrastructure to help it achieve its carbon neutral ambitions and make the city a greener, healthier and safer place for all. Once Worcester’s digital infrastructure rollout is complete, it can fully reap the benefits of green innovations such as smart energy and waste management systems which are all underpinned by Full Fibre connectivity.

“It’s important to remember that any short-term disruption will pay off tremendously in the long-term – once the network’s built, it will serve the community’s connectivity needs for decades to come.”

The overall project is expected to reach completion by early 2024 and the first services will go live for people to take advantage of much sooner. As the Full Fibre network is completed in each neighbourhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will begin delivering some of the fastest and best value Gigabit capable broadband packages available in the country.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Skills at Worcestershire County Council, said: “It is fantastic that CityFibre is now ready to start delivering its £21m infrastructure investment programme in Worcester, which will deliver a citywide network that will benefit residents, businesses and services. This is a once in a generation upgrade that will futureproof our network infrastructure at a time when connectivity has never been so important.

“Investment in Full Fibre connectivity by operators like CityFibre supports improvements in both wider economic growth and quality of life and is absolutely critical to the success of the UK post-coronavirus.’’

In Worcester, services are not yet live but will be available from a range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to deliver next generation broadband services, with TalkTalk and other providers expected to join the network soon. Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and pre-register their interest online.

Full fibre networks, unlike many of the copper-based ‘fibre broadband’ services available today, use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection. This gives users speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps for upload and download (symmetrical), near limitless bandwidth that connectivity users can depend on.

A Full Fibre connection also goes far beyond simply enabling access to the latest entertainment at lightning speed. As an essential digital utility, Full Fibre boosts households and businesses alike, with experts saying it will drive a range of economic benefits, such as making us more productive and innovative.

Councillor Alan Amos, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport at Worcestershire County Council, said: “Whilst this upgraded provision will bring many benefits, my main concern is to ensure minimum disruption on the roads and pavements by getting the construction work completed efficiently and on time without overruns, and with high quality reinstatement of all the surfaces. I have made it clear to CityFibre that we will be holding them to that.”

CityFibre is bringing Full Fibre connectivity within reach of up to 8 million homes in towns and cities across the UK as part of its up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme. Find out more at www.cityfibre.com

ENDS

Issued on behalf of CityFibre by Weber Shandwick. For more information or images, contact: Scott McLeod smcleod@webershandwick.com

Notes to Editors:

About CityFibre:

CityFibre is the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform. With existing networks across the country, CityFibre provides wholesale connectivity to multiple business and consumer service providers, local authorities and mobile operators.

CityFibre has a £4bn network rollout 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.

www.cityfibre.com