CityFibre Canvasses Peterborough Businesses To Register Interest in New Full Fibre Network

CityFibre Canvasses Peterborough Businesses To Register Interest in New Full Fibre Network

30 January 2014

‘Gig Up’ campaign highlights benefits for first ultra-fast fibre-optic broadband users

London and Peterborough, 30th January 2014 – Following CityFibre’s announcement of its investment in a new city-wide, full fibre-optic network in Peterborough in November, today sees the launch of the ‘Gig Up’ business registration campaign. This highly targeted initiative will encourage businesses throughout the city to register their interest in the services that the new fibre network can deliver.

CityFibre will commence roll-out of the new network to be known as ‘Peterborough CORE’ in April 2014 and it will be completed approximately 12 months later. Registrations through the Gig Up campaign at www.peterboroughCORE.com will enable CityFibre to map demand, keep businesses informed of progress and ensure as many as possible can be connected as the network is rolled out. Businesses will be incentivised to get connected while the project is in-build as this is quicker and more economical than sending crews back to the area after they have left. The greater the interest, the wider the network roll-out will be.

‘Peterborough CORE’ will revolutionise the way that businesses and public services in the city operate, delivering Gigabit speed services that are both accessible and affordable. full fibre connectivity means that organisations will no longer have to suffer the frustrations of slow and unreliable broadband due to the bottleneck in their connections resulting from the existing copper-based network. It also puts Peterborough in an elite group of the most advanced city-wide digital networks in the world, including the likes of Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Stockholm as well as another of CityFibre’s projects in York.

Many Peterborough businesses are hungry for faster speeds with several hundred having already joined a grass-roots campaign for better connectivity. Many of these have already shown interest in the CORE and will act as ambassadors for the Gig Up registration campaign. One example is Neil Darwin, Chief Executive of economic development company, Opportunity Peterborough. He said: “Joining the likes of Singapore and Tokyo by becoming a gigabit city is excellent for Peterborough – it really will revolutionise the way we do business and significantly boost our local economy." “Peterborough businesses are already pushing the boundaries of technology, innovation and sustainable ways of working, and we’re excited to see what more they can achieve with the benefit of a super-fast fibre network.” Public services providers are similarly enthusiastic and many will be connected in the first phase of the network roll out. Jon Peate, Head of IT at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very pleased to be among the first organisations to work with CityFibre on this exciting initiative. By having access to ultra-fast broadband at Peterborough City Hospital we will be able to give clinicians access to complex diagnostics from home rather than be limited to the office environment. This will be particularly useful for scans such as MRI. In addition it will give us the facility to host content on our website that normally requires a much higher bandwidth, and as a result we will be able to widen the scope of electronic information we currently provide to our patients and visitors.”

Gigabit connectivity will deliver symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 1000 Mbps per second, allowing multiple users to access even the largest data files simultaneously with no delays. In addition, users will be able to extract maximum value from cloud services delivering a host of cost and time-saving benefits and driving the bottom line. A full fibre network like the Peterborough CORE will provide an unbeatable, reliable performance long into the future.

Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council said, “Peterborough is the fastest growing city in the country and this investment will put us at the forefront of the UK’s digital economy. We have seen one of the highest increases in the number of jobs created in the private sector anywhere in the UK and this full fibre network will help us to continue to build on this by attracting new companies, particularly from the technology sector, and allowing businesses of all sizes to utilise the internet for growth. Peterborough will now have one of the country’s best digital infrastructures and this should be seen as one of the most significant investments in the city's history.”

CityFibre was listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market (LSE:CFHL) on January 17th, raising capital to grow its Gigabit services not just in Peterborough, but also in York and Bournemouth where it has already built infrastructure.

Greg Mesch added: “Britain lags behind Europe in terms of providing businesses and homes with the benefits of fibre broadband. We have put in place the necessary capital mechanisms to build fibre optic networks in regional cities and by working with partners capable of financing and engineering the build, we are providing cities like Peterborough with a digital head start over other cities, enabling them to compete on a level playing field in Europe.” ENDS

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