CityFibre gets to work on £12 million project to future-proof Horsham’s digital foundations

Work to bring full fibre connectivity within reach of almost every home and business in Horsham is now underway as CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, breaks ground on a new infrastructure rollout that will future-proof the town’s digital needs for generations to come.

Construction of the £12 million town-wide full fibre network has begun on Hammerpond Road in the east of the town and is being delivered by CityFibre’s build partner, Lanes-i. The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Horsham District Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while minimising potential disruption.

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. CityFibre will inform residents by post ahead of any work starting.

Speaking of the project, Anne Krausse, CityFibre’s City Manager for Horsham, said: “I’m immensely excited and proud to see work getting underway in Horsham as the town gets ready to thrive in the digital age. It’s important to remember that any short-term disruption will pay off in the long-term; once the network’s built, it will serve the community’s connectivity needs for decades to come and plays a crucial role in growing and protecting local economies.”

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, near limitless bandwidth and 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.

Cllr Chris Brown, Cabinet Member for the Local Economy at Horsham District Council, said: “We welcome CityFibre’s investment into deploying a full fibre network in Horsham. Having a modern state-of-the-art infrastructure is vital for growing our economy and ensuring that homes and businesses get the very best digital connectivity. Not only will full fibre attract new businesses, drive innovation and start-up growth but it will also modernise day-to-day services, support the adoption of new digital health technologies and bring benefits to all.”

The overall project is expected to reach completion by 2023/4 and the first services will go live for people to take advantage of much sooner. As the network is completed in each neighbourhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will ‘light them up’ to deliver some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available in the country.

In Horsham, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen and an ever-increasing number of partners, offering some of the fastest and most competitive broadband packages available.

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