CityFibre introduces 90-Day grace period on billing of new Gigabit Ethernet Installations to prepare businesses for COVID-19 return-to-work

CityFibre, the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform, has announced a new initiative that helps channel partners support business customers during the COVID-19 impact by deferring billing on new Gigabit Ethernet installations for up to 90 calendar days.

The 90-day grace period applies from the installation date of new orders of CityFibre Ethernet Flex 1Gbps and CityFibre 1Gbps bearer-based Ethernet circuits, unless the customer requests the connection be activated sooner because they have returned to working from their premises. The initiative currently covers orders placed until the end of May 2020, and also includes existing orders that customers have put on hold.

CityFibre’s Head of Wholesale, Andy Wilson, said: “We understand the pressure our channel partners and their customers are facing in the current COVID-19 situation and are finding ways to help them and their customers wherever possible. We’ve listened carefully to partners’ experiences and concerns in recent weeks and developed this initiative to help them overcome customers’ fears about progressing with Ethernet installations when they don’t know how soon they’ll be able to return to their normal premises.”

Wilson added: “The UK Government has requested that telecommunications operators continue to build as well as maintain networks as COVID-19 impacts our daily lives, recognising that infrastructure is critical to allowing both society and the economy to function and to enable rapid economic recovery when the crisis is over. CityFibre is continuing to build while other infrastructure builders have needed to announce postponements to some elements of their business service provisioning – in the dates from which their site visits will resume, for example. Our aim is to ensure customers’ installations can continue without disruption, so that their full fibre gigabit connections will be ready and waiting and they’ll be in a better place to support their operations when they return.”

This isn’t the only new option CityFibre has developed to help channel partners weather the storm. It has already announced to partners a new promotion which provides one month free on all 12 month unlimited ADSL and self-install FTTC broadband services ordered or migrated in April 2020. CityFibre has also been working closely with partners to help them implement highly targeted strategic marketing campaigns.

To find out more about the 90-day deferred billing initiative channel partners can contact CityFibre’s wholesale team on 0330 100 3550 or contact their Account Manager directly.