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The five new contracts will help subsidise the rollout of full fibre broadband infrastructure to ovr 202,000 rural premises
Today, the UK’s largest altnet CityFibre has been awarded five new contracts related to the UK’s £5 billion broadband subsidy programme, Project Gigabit.
The contracts, worth a total of £394 million, will provide subsidies for full fibre rollout to 202,000 rural premises in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Milton Keynes.
CityFibre says the funding will also help the company to expand and densify its existing deployments in these areas, boosting its rollout to almost 450,000 additional premises across the awarded regions.
The first of these newly targeted premises will reportedly be connected in 2025.
“We’re thrilled to be a key delivery partner for the government on this critical infrastructure project, transforming the digital capabilities of rural homes and businesses across the country. But that’s just the start. We’re continuing to expand our commercial rollout alongside Project Gigabit, extending infrastructure choice, multi-gigabit speeds, and unparalleled reliability to hundreds of thousands of additional premises in these regions,” said Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre.
These five new contracts are in addition to the four CityFibre has already won, bringing the company’s total Project Gigabit funding to £782 million.
Project Gigabit currently aims to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to at last 85% of UK premises by 2025 and the whole of the UK (roughly 99%) by 2030.
CityFibre’s network currently covers roughly 3.5 million premises across the UK, with the company aiming to cover 8 million with full fibre by the end of 2025.
“We’re wasting no time in our mission to bring lightning-fast broadband to rural areas – with a billion pounds in contracts already signed with broadband companies to get our next-generation network up and running,” added Data and Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez. “Project Gigabit is already driving growth, creating jobs and putting an end to snail’s pace internet speeds, and we will continue to work rapidly to ensure people feel the benefits of our rollout to even more places across the UK as quickly as possible.”
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