Dundee becomes one of the UK's best connected cities as CityFibre's primary-build completes

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre network, has completed the primary-build of its full fibre network in Dundee. The new network is now 'ready for service’ to over 58,000 homes and most businesses. Dundee is the latest city in CityFibre’s nationwide rollout, making it one of the best-connected locations in the country.

Construction began on the £40m project in 2021 and CityFibre has since laid over 488km of dense full fibre infrastructure across the city, which equates to walking across the Tay Bridge and back 55 times. While the primary-build is now complete, CityFibre will continue to explore opportunities to connect more homes and businesses, including flats, new-build homes, business parks and homes on private roads.

In Dundee, CityFibre also secured its first public-sector contract in 2021, connecting more than 25 public sector sites across the city, including Dundee City Council offices, schools, libraries and leisure centres.

Full fibre networks use 100% fibre optics to carry data at light-speed all the way to and from the home and are more than five time more reliable than legacy copper-based broadbandⁱ. CityFibre’s network offers download and upload speeds of up to 2.5Gbps and is capable of supporting symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps in the future. That is over 36 times faster than the UK’s average download speeds of 69.4Mbps and more than 136 times faster than the UK’s average upload speed of 18.4Mbps ⁱⁱ.

Residents in Dundee can enjoy affordable, gigabit-capable and reliable full fibre broadband from a wide range of internet service providers (ISPs) including Vodafone, TalkTalk, IDNet and Zen, with Sky joining the CityFibre network later this year. All homes passed by the network can schedule a full fibre installation within five working days of placing an order.

Paul Wakefield, Senior Partnership Manager at CityFibre, said: “We’re delighted to announce the completion of our full-fibre primary build in Dundee. This rollout marks an exciting step for the city’s connectivity, which will benefit from faster, more reliable and cheaper broadband connectivity. With the UK’s most advanced digital infrastructure now beneath its streets, Dundee residents can enjoy seamless streaming and significant productivity benefits.”

Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee City East and Cabinet secretary for finance and local government, said: “The residents of Dundee will benefit immensely from access to full fibre connectivity, helping strengthen the city’s digital infrastructure. I appreciate that there will have been disruption for residents and know CityFibre are grateful for their patience during the build. I look forward to seeing the community benefit from this critical infrastructure upgrade.”

^{i Ofcom’s Communications Market Report data}

^{ii Ofcom’s Net Neutrality report}