Network operator CityFibre has today announced that they’ve begun the roll-out phase of their £112 million state-aid supported Project Gigabit contract for Kent (Lot 29) in England. This will extend their 10Gbps capable FTTP broadband ISP network to an additional 50,000+ premises in hard-to-reach rural areas.
The announcement means that CityFibre has now begun construction work in all 9 of their Project Gigabit contract areas (here). The projects reflect over £782m in government subsidies to serve more than 464,000 hard to reach rural premises across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes.
The network operator has also committed their own funding to help build commercially beyond those contracted areas (i.e. a total of £1.2bn in combined public and private investment and 1.366 million extra premises may be delivered as a result of these contracts). But sadly, today’s announcement doesn’t provide any details of where CityFibre are starting to build in Kent or how long it will take to complete the deployment.
All of this will help to support CityFibre’s wider ambition to eventually cover up to 8 million premises (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and £782m of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. So far, they’ve already managed to cover 4 million premises.
Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre, said:
“Bringing full fibre connectivity to hard-to-reach homes and businesses across Kent will create new possibilities, empowering local communities to thrive. We are excited for residents to experience the benefits of enhanced connectivity, leaving behind the limitations of copper technology.”
Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said:
“Everyone deserves the chance to thrive in both their professional and personal lives, and lack of reliable connectivity should never be a barrier to that. Thanks to this government-funded programme, hard-to-reach parts of Kent are now being equipped with the fastest speeds on the market, allowing communities to stay connected.”
The operator is supported by various ISPs like Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet and more (Sky Broadband will follow in 2025), although they aren’t all available in every single location yet.