Peterborough Transformed Into A Gigabit City Within 11 Months

London, 19th March: Pending the handover of a final group of council sites, leading digital infrastructure builder CityFibre has completed the construction of its 90km Gigabit City network in Peterborough, less than 11 months from starting construction. Known as the Peterborough CORE the network connects 107 public sector sites, including administrative offices, data centres, schools and hospitals, providing a future-proofed network for Peterborough Council and its IT services provider, Serco.

As part of CityFibre’s ‘Well Planned City’ network design, the Peterborough CORE has been deployed to benefit the city’s previously underserved business community. More than 1000 businesses (25% of the businesses in the city) registered their interest in services as part of the ‘Gig Up Peterborough’ pre-registration campaign. To date, more than 100 businesses have now signed orders for services from CityFibre’s service provider partners including Businesscoms, Rydal Communications, Consulting Networks and Cyberware.

Demand for connectivity from businesses in areas not included in the original network plan has also been harnessed to extend the CORE’s footprint. Demand aggregation activities have triggered network extension to four new business parks in the city including, Fengate, Lynch Wood, Cygnet Park and Orton Southgate. Once connected, these will bring gigabit connectivity within reach of a further 1000 businesses.

CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “In less than one year Peterborough has been transformed into a Gigabit City. With a future-proof digital infrastructure at its heart, Peterborough has a digital head-start on the rest of the country. Its public sector is already more efficient and capable of innovation while its business community is becoming more competitive and productive.

“Through Peterborough’s Gigabit City project we have demonstrated the appetite for next generation gigabit services by both the public and private sector and the speed at which cities throughout the nation can benefit from our model. Our network is already growing organically as more sites are connected and more users come to understand the improvements to their experience and bottom line.”

Marco Cereste, leader of Peterborough City Council said: “We cannot overstate the value of a gigabit speed digital infrastructure to our city. As a Gigabit City, we have a significant competitive advantage over other areas and are able to lead the way with an innovative and integrated digital strategy. Businesses are hungry for bandwidth and we recognise that because of this network, Peterborough is becoming an even more attractive place to build a business.”

The completion of the Peterborough CORE comes as CityFibre continues to build gigabit networks up and down the UK. As well as on going projects in the likes of Coventry, Aberdeen and York, the company has recently undertaken its largest city network to date in Edinburgh.