Crawley Borough Council teams up with CityFibre to bring Full Fibre to tenants

8 July 2021: The rollout of a town-wide Full Fibre network in Crawley has taken a major step forward thanks to a new agreement between CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent Full Fibre platform, and Crawley Borough Council.

People living in over 9,000 homes managed by Crawley Borough Council will be among the first to connect to Crawley’s new town-wide Full Fibre network. This is thanks to the signing of a blanket wayleave agreement, which gives CityFibre permission to connect all Crawley Borough Council properties to the new network it is building across the town.

CityFibre is investing £23m to bring the fastest, most reliable digital connectivity to Crawley and has made swift progress on the town-wide rollout. This new partnership will ensure the project can continue to go ahead smoothly and reach social housing sites as well as other homes and businesses in the area.

Full Fibre networks are recognised as the digital infrastructure of the future for both homes and businesses. With near unlimited bandwidth, Full Fibre will ensure households can utilise the latest smart home technology, stream entertainment across multiple devices and make it easier to work from home, with virtually no buffering or lagging.

Anne Krausse, CityFibre’s City Manager for Crawley, said: “Digital access is one of the major issues facing communities across the UK, and we are committed to addressing the problem.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown, more than ever, just how vital a fit-for-purpose connection is for work, play and keeping in touch. The agreement we have reached with Crawley Borough Council will make a genuine difference to thousands of people living in properties across the town and we look forward to seeing them take advantage of the benefits Full Fibre will bring.”

Work on Crawley’s new Full Fibre network kicked off in December 2020 and is now almost complete in Langley Green. The rollout is currently moving south towards Gossops Green, with Northgate and Three Bridges earmarked for construction later this year.

Once the entire build has been completed in 2023, almost every home and business in Crawley will have access to Full Fibre broadband.

Councillor Peter Smith, Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development at Crawley Borough Council, said: “We want to help make Crawley an even better place to live and provide great homes in neighbourhoods where our tenants can access training, skills and job opportunities. CityFibre’s Full Fibre network will be vital in ensuring Crawley has a resilient and dynamic economy for decades to come and by signing a blanket wayleave agreement, we can ensure the residents of our properties can enjoy the many benefits of the fastest and most reliable digital connectivity will bring without any delay.”

Crawley’s Full Fibre network is not yet live but once activated, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers including Giganet and No One. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch Internet Services Provider (ISP) partner, Vodafone to deliver next generation broadband services, and TalkTalk is expected to join the network soon.

Those interested in Full Fibre broadband can pre-register their interest with CityFibre to receive information when services are available, or check their postcode to see if services are currently available at cityfibre.com/residential

ENDS