CityFibre gets to work on future-proofing Wigan’s digital foundations with £30m full fibre investment

Work to bring full fibre connectivity within reach of almost every home and business in Wigan gets 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 £30m town-wide full fibre network has begun in Wigan and is being delivered by O'Connor Utilities Ltd (OCU) on behalf of CityFibre. The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Wigan Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while managing 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 and CityFibre will be in touch by post ahead of any work starting.

With construction now underway, the first services will go live for people to take advantage of in the months to come. As the network is completed in each neighbourhood, CityFibre will designate the homes ‘ready for service’, which means residents can choose to connect to full fibre-enabled broadband services when they go live in their area.

In Wigan, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to deliver next generation broadband services, while TalkTalk, Giganet, IDNet, Zen and other providers are expected to join the network soon.

Speaking of the project, Julie Derbyshire, CityFibre’s Area Manager for Wigan, said: “I’m immensely excited and proud to see work getting underway in town today. This is the start of an exciting new chapter for Wigan as it gets ready to thrive in the digital age. 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.”

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 Rehman, Cabinet Member for Resources, Finance and Transformation and Chair of Wigan’s Digital Board, said: “This is a significant investment in the borough’s digital infrastructure, helping to further the ambitions set out in our Digital Strategy. In the next five years, our aim is to enhance the lives of our residents and improve the places that we work and live through digital transformation and this investment will certainly help us on that journey.”

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and register their interest here.