Southend-on-Sea’s Full Fibre roll-out moves into new areas of town

Southend-on-Sea’s full fibre upgrade is being delivered at pace as CityFibre moves into the West Shoebury, Thorpe Bay, Clifftown and High Street areas of the town.

CityFibre, the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform, is continuing its £30m digital transformation of Southend-on-Sea to extend its full fibre network, with construction commencing in Thorpe Bay, West Shoebury, Kursall, Clifftown and Southend High Street in the coming weeks. This adds to CityFibre’s growing presence in the area where works have already been completed in Eastwood Park, Victoria, St. Lukes and parts of Belfairs Garden and Southchurch.

Full fibre broadband is currently available to less than 20 per cent of UK premises and is regarded as the best in connectivity for its speed, near unlimited bandwidth and reliability. The availability of a full fibre network goes far beyond simply helping households access the latest entertainment at lightning speed and stream from multiple devices with ease. The benefits are much deeper, from enabling smart home technology, giving people the ability to work from home seamlessly and laying the foundations for smart city initiatives.

Launch partner Vodafone is currently using CityFibre’s network to bring Vodafone Gigafast Broadband services to the area, with services now live for the first connected residents across Eastwood Park, St Lukes, Queensway and St. Lukes. Meanwhile, Telelink UK is delivering the construction programme on CityFibre’s behalf with a workforce that has been recruited locally.

Aideen Sadler, CityFibre’s City Manager for Southend-on-Sea, said: “We are making tremendous progress in our build across the town, with many people already enjoying the benefits of Full Fibre broadband. The last year has proven how essential connectivity is, powering everything from home schooling, catch ups with friends and families to our entertainment needs.

“With work now entering new areas of Southend, we have reached another key milestone in our efforts to transform the digital landscape in the town. Our teams are hard at work, with safety being prioritised at all times, as we head towards overall completion of the project in 2022.”

CityFibre is also supporting various initiatives in the town, including the ‘Inspire Your City’ challenge which sees primary and secondary school pupils tasked with submitting ideas on how they would make the most of the new digital connectivity. In addition, CityFibre is sponsoring Southend Adult Community College’s ‘Digital Access for All’ project which aims to engage with students who are digitally excluded, giving them the opportunity to access equipment, services and skills which they can then apply to everyday life and work.

Ros Parker, Principal of Southend Adult Community College, added: “We are delighted to be working alongside CityFibre, taking digital skills into our community. We have seen the many benefits of using technology to keep us connected during a challenging year and as a local community college we welcome the opportunity to provide new skills to local people.”

Southend-on-Sea’s full fibre journey began in July 2019 and it is one of a growing number of locations in the UK to benefit from CityFibre’s Gigabit City investment programme. CityFibre is set to invest up to £4bn nationally to bring gigabit capable full fibre infrastructure to up to eight million homes across the UK, providing a future-proof platform for digital growth.

To register your interest in securing a full fibre broadband service, visit cityfibre.com