Town leaders come together to celebrate Huddersfield’s full fibre future with CityFibre

Last week saw Huddersfield’s civic and business communities find out how improved digital connectivity can transform everyday life for people living and working in the area. Work is currently underway by CityFibre to deliver a full fibre network across Huddersfield which will deliver significant benefits to households and businesses in communities throughout the town. The infrastructure builder is investing more than £30m to extend its existing full fibre network past almost every home and business locally, enabling both residents and businesses to enjoy unlimited bandwidth and internet speeds of up to 1000Mbps. With Huddersfield as the first town in the UK to benefit from this digital transformation, leaders came together at the Manor House in Lindley to discover more about the project and learn how full fibre can support Huddersfield with its ambitions to become a leading location in Yorkshire to both work and live. Over 200 businesses and public sector sites in Huddersfield have connected to the network since 2016 when the original core build was completed, now residents will also be able to enjoy gigabit-speed broadband. Joined by representatives from Kirklees Council and Vodafone, CityFibre updated guests on the project’s progress and what the high-capacity network will mean for Huddersfield – from increased business investment and productivity to improved smart tech at home The session also explored the role full fibre will play in supporting future technology and bandwidth requirements for Huddersfield’s smart city initiatives, positioning the town well ahead of the curve for the Government’s 2033 target for full fibre coverage across the UK. In total, more than 60 stakeholders – including key council officers, business leaders, economic development groups and figures from the education and property sectors – were present at the event. Steve Moore, CityFibre’s city manager for Huddersfield, said: “This year is shaping up to be huge for Huddersfield’s digital transformation. With construction now well underway, the very first homes can expect to be enjoying Gigafast broadband services from Vodafone by summer this year. “It was a pleasure to bring together key stakeholders from the community and discuss how full fibre will help propel Huddersfield’s digital future. There has been huge interest from local residents and businesses - it’s great to see such enthusiasm for the project. “The long term benefits of improved connectivity are massive and the people we speak to cannot wait to connect. In the short term, we are doing everything we can to ensure communities are kept updated with our plans.” Vodafone will use CityFibre’s network to bring ‘Vodafone Gigafast Broadband’ to residential customers in Huddersfield. Neil Blagden, director of digital and commercial operations at Vodafone UK, said: “Broadband services which use full fibre connections are an immense improvement over ones based on old copper telephone lines. The people of Huddersfield will never want to go back once they’ve experienced its benefits. Vodafone Gigafast Broadband uses world-class technology and we can’t wait to bring it to the residents of Huddersfield.” You can find out more about CityFibre’s Gigabit City vision for Huddersfield by visiting http://www.cityfibre.com/huddersfieldwand following @GigabitHudds on Twitter.