Construction Begins On Gigabit Fibre Network For Peterborough

Construction Begins On Gigabit Fibre Network For Peterborough

23 April 2014

CityFibre commences build of the city-wide Peterborough CORE network

Wednesday 23rd April 2014 - Work has now begun on the construction of the Peterborough CORE, a pure fibre network designed and built by CityFibre to bring Gigabit internet speeds to Peterborough’s business community. This major infrastructure project is being undertaken in partnership with Peterborough City Council and its IT Services Provider Serco. The work is set to transform Peterborough into a Gigabit City over the next 12-14 months. 350 Peterborough businesses have already pre-registered to take advantage of the gigabit internet speeds that are 100 times faster than most business connections. At 1,000 megabits per second the new ‘pure-fibre’ infrastructure matches that of cities like Stockholm. Construction work has now started in Peterborough city centre and will quickly progress across the city with the first services available to businesses by July this year. CityFibre and its construction partner North Midland Construction are working closely with Peterborough City Council Highways Authority to ensure minimum disruption to local businesses and homes during the installation of almost 90km of fibre optic cable route. CityFibre’s City Development Manager for Peterborough Andy Starnes explains, “When broadband replaced dial-up, it revolutionised global internet usage. Now the old broadband is in need of an upgrade itself. Pure-fibre networks like the Peterborough CORE are modern digital infrastructures delivering accessible and affordable Gigabit speed services. They are a future-proofed technology capable of supporting businesses’ current and future demands. We urge businesses to register their interest on the Peterborough CORE website, to take advantage of this opportunity to increase their productivity and profitability.” The precise network route is demand-led and there is still time for businesses to register their interest in the Peterborough CORE. Registration is no obligation and allows CityFibre to map demand and connect businesses while construction teams are working in an area. This avoids businesses incurring the additional costs and inconvenience of returning at a later date. The more businesses that register, the more will be in reach of the network. In addition to providing businesses and the council with state of the art connectivity, the Peterborough CORE network is designed to underpin any eventual roll-out of a city-wide fibre-to-the-premises network. Councillor Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council, is pleased that construction work is progressing. He said: “Peterborough is the fastest growing city in the UK and that means we need the fastest possible internet speed. “It is good to see that work has started on the project because when it is complete it will help not only the business community but also Peterborough’s, schools, and public services. “There may be some disruption over the coming months, however it will be worth it as it will set Peterborough on course to be one of the most connected cities in the world.” Communications Minister Ed Vaizey has also added his support to the Peterborough CORE project saying: “This is tremendous news for Peterborough businesses and provides a significant boost to the Government’s transformation of UK internet speeds already underway. I strongly urge businesses to make the most of this opportunity to ensure they are properly equipped to compete in today’s digital age.” Case study One of the first customers to sign up for Peterborough CORE is solicitors, Taylor Rose. Luke Hutchings, Head of Employment at Taylor Rose, is looking forward to utilising the ultra-fast connection. He said: “We are very excited to be the first business to take gigabit services on the Peterborough CORE. As a fast-growing, innovative firm, with almost 200 employees working online simultaneously, our current connectivity risks holding us back. We have ambitions to provide more and more of our services online and the gigabit service from Businesscoms means we will be able to do more, faster than ever before. It’s good news for our business and for Peterborough’s wider business community.” More information on the Gig Up campaign and business pre-registration form can be found at www.peterboroughcore.com ENDS Photo/film opportunity – Weds 23rd April When: 23rd April, 10.30am Where: Eco Innovation Centre What: Live dig and open fibre chamber, key City Council representatives, CityFibre Directors and representative from Taylor Rose Notes to editors Peterborough CORE The Peterborough CORE is a pure fibre network, built by CityFibre to serve Peterborough’s business community with next generation gigabit internet connectivity. In partnership with Peterborough City Council and its IT services provider Serco, it will also deliver services to 106 council sites throughout the as schools and hospitals. The Peterborough CORE network is designed to underpin and make possible the eventual roll-out of a city-wide fibre-to-the-premises network. CityFibre’s investment in Peterborough’s digital infrastructure will transform it into a Gigabit City. Peterborough’s businesses will be some of the first to benefit from the ultra-fast connectivity. Symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 1000 Megabits per second will allow employees to transfer even the largest data files simultaneously with no delays. In addition, organisations will be able to extract maximum value from cloud services delivering a host of cost and time-saving benefits. www.peterboroughcore.com About CityFibre CityFibre (www.cityfibre.com) is one of the UK’s leading fibre optic infrastructure providers. We design, build and operate dedicated pure fibre networks for the public and private sectors. These empower data-hungry users throughout the country by unleashing gigabit speeds on future-proofed technology. Our transformational fibre infrastructure projects comprise point-to-point connections, metro rings and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks that make possible Next Generation Access and gigabit level services direct to local authorities, businesses and homes. We manage over 100 private fibre projects in more than 50 UK towns and cities. With 30,000km of fibre in the ground, connecting more than 350 sites and data centres across the UK, we are the country’s largest independent provider of fibre in secondary cities. In Bournemouth, CityFibre owns the largest FTTH project in the UK. With over 21,000 homes ready for service, the network enables service providers to deliver unprecedented ultrafast broadband with speeds of up to one gigabit per second. CityFibre is also a joint venture partner with Sky and TalkTalk committed to delivering the UK’s first, city-wide FTTP network, bringing gigabit speeds to thousands of homes and businesses in the York by 2015. Two further full-city projects will be announced by the joint venture in due course.

CityFibre News

With network projects in over 60 cities and construction underway to reach up to 8 million homes