Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Network operator CityFibre, which has so far built their 5.5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 4.5 million UK premises, has today confirmed the completion of their “primary” £50 million build across the West Midland’s city of Wolverhampton.
CityFibre originally started this deployment during July 2020 (here) and they’ve since made their network “ready for service” (RFS) at over 100,000 premises (up from 90k in April 2024), which reflects more than 90% of Wolverhampton’s homes and most businesses.
The FTTP deployment is on top of their existing Dark Fibre build in Wolverhampton, which initially connected approximately 170 public sector sites to its full fibre network, including schools, libraries, leisure centres and council offices. CityFibre has since completed a further 119 connections including the City of Wolverhampton Council offices, educational buildings and Wolverhampton Homes apartment blocks.
While the primary-build is now complete, the operator said they would continue to explore opportunities to connect more homes and businesses, including flats, new-build homes, business parks and homes on private roads.
Charlie Kitchin, Partnership Manager at CityFibre, said:
“We’re delighted to announce the completion of the latest primary-build of our full-fibre network in Wolverhampton. This rollout marks an exciting step for the city’s connectivity, which will now benefit from faster and more reliable broadband. The upgrading of this digital infrastructure will bring significant productivity and innovation benefits for the local economy.”
When considering all networks in the area, gigabit broadband coverage in the city has increased from just 2% in 2020 to 96% in 2024. CityFibre’s main gigabit-capable competitors in the city are Openreach and Virgin Media (VMO2), although some smaller networks like Grain and Hyperoptic have also deployed their full fibre infrastructure into a few specific areas.