Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Network operator CityFibre, which has already deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network to cover 4.4 million UK premises (4.2m Ready for Service), has today taken the wraps off their new “Multi-Gig” product, offering its ISP partners symmetrical speeds of 5.5Gbps (Gigabits per second) – over twice as fast as their current top 2.5Gbps tier.
The new product tier is being made possible by the operator’s ongoing upgrade from their existing GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) to XGS-PON (10Gbps symmetric capable PON) platform, which has already rolled out across 85% of CityFibre’s network and is currently “due for completion later this summer“.
In addition, the operator also hinted that they’re planning “faster Multi-Gig services due to launch” sometime in 2026, which we suspect might well see them push into the 7-8Gbps territory like other altnets (e.g. Netomnia/YouFibre, B4RN etc.). Going faster than 7-8Gbps on even XGS-PON in the real-world is difficult due to network overheads and other caveats.
“Over three times faster than BT Openreach’s fastest available 1.8Gb downstream / 0.12Gb upstream service, and available at a much lower wholesale cost, CityFibre’s 5.5Gb symmetrical product will enable partners to offer a range of Multi-Gig speed tiers to customers, improving margins whilst providing a valuable customer retention tool for the long term,” said the announcement.
Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said:
“The UK’s full fibre future is here, thanks to CityFibre’s powerful, 10Gb XGS-PON network. Our ISP partners are already connecting customers with speeds over 2Gb and exceeding expectations when it comes to quality and reliability, but our next generation of full fibre will set a new standard for what’s possible.
CityFibre started out to challenge the incumbents and bring choice and competition to the UK market. This is another huge step-forward, giving ISPs more power and flexibility than ever before and bringing affordable Multi-Gig speeds and an unrivalled experience to millions of UK consumers.”
The network operator, which has so far attracted 550,000 live customers (March 2025), currently still aspires to cover up to 8 million UK premises with their new full fibre network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and nearly £1bn of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. But quite when they’ll reach that point is unclear.
The announcement comes shortly after we reported on how Openreach’s technical documents for their own XGS-PON deployment were hinting at plans for a top symmetric speed of 3.3Gbps (here). At the same time, we’ve also seen Netomnia pushing into 50Gbps capable (50G PON) territory (here), although business users will be the first to benefit from any future 10Gbps+ packages via that network.
The usual catch in all this is the difficulty of actually being able to harness all that speed when online. Most internet services still seem to struggle to harness more than 1Gbps (1000Mbps), assuming they can do even that, while the multi-gigabit domain remains more of a premium luxury product (Why Buying Gigabit Broadband Doesn’t Always Deliver 1Gbps). But technological evolution rarely waits for the slowest users.
Naturally, there will always be those who find reason to moan, even when a network providers do things as striking as this. But pushing the boundaries of modern technology is part of what makes an operator exciting (marketing carries power) and as coverage matures then service performance / quality inevitably becomes the next battleground, alongside price.
The catch for retail ISPs is that, in order to take advantage of such speeds, they’ll need to invest in more capacity and better equipment (e.g. optical modems / ONT and routers, as well as fresh engineer visits for existing customers). All of that comes with its own costs and complexity, thus it may take a bit of time before all of CityFibre’s retail ISPs are pushing their new top speeds to consumers.