Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of where CityFibre’s contractors are building their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, as well as which of those builds have started to go live (i.e. allowing you to order services from an ISP) or even been completed. The following list may help to answer that.
Just to recap. The operator is currently several years into a rollout that started in 2018 and could see them become the UK’s third major provider of broadband infrastructure after Openreach and Virgin Media (VMO2 + Nexfibre). As part of that they’re investing billions of pounds (c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK subsidy) to reach up to 8 million premises – across more than 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK) – by the end of 2025 (here).
At the time of writing, CF has already covered 3.5 million UK premises (up from 2.6m a year ago), although slightly less than that – 3.2 million – are currently considered as Ready For Service (RFS) via supporting UK ISPs (up from 2.3m). The network, once completed, should also pass around 800,000 businesses, 400,000 local authority sites and 250,000 5G access points (masts, rooftop sites etc.).
The latest official data reveals that the operator is now home to a total of 95 locations where their network is classed as RFS or Ready for Service (up from 75 last year) and many of those are still a few years away from completion. Once live, consumers tend to be able to pick from a selection of ISPs, but they aren’t all live or available in every location yet.
In each location, the new network tends to go live gradually (phased approach) as work is completed (neighbourhood by neighbourhood), although it can sometimes take around a year before the very first area gets enabled after build starts. One caveat here is that CF may declare some locations as RFS before any ISPs are available to offer a live connection, but we’re told this currently only effects less than 5% of the RFS list below.
Sadly, the table below no longer displays a full list of all their active in-build locations (last year we listed 86 locations), which is due to all the recent turmoil that has seen multiple urban builds suspended (here). This is partly so that they can re-focus around a smaller group of primary contractors and put more resources into their new Project Gigabit contracts with the government (here). But it also means their plans are in a state of flux, making them hard to pin down.
The table this year instead lists the 95 locations that are classed as ready for service (the vast majority already have ISP support) and 14 locations where their primary rollout has now completed (up from 9 last year). Take note that CF often categorises locations differently to general society – e.g. Chichester & Arun could be considered as disparate locations, but CF categorise them as one for their network build.
Just to be clear – CF’s network will currently only be live in parts of the locations listed below, and we don’t have an exact list of which ISPs provide services to each location – it varies. But some providers, like those mentioned earlier, either already have or are still working toward full national availability.
Exclusivity agreements, such as CF’s original deal with primary ISP partner Vodafone, can sometimes also place a temporary restriction on which providers you can choose for any given property. Such agreements can last for around a year after the network first goes live for your specific address, which can be very irritating and often causes additional consumer confusion.
CityFibre Network Locations and Build Status 2024
RFS Locations (95)
Completed Locations (14 – Primary Build)
Aberdeen
Northampton
Barnsley
Stirling
Bath
Milton Keynes
Bentley Heath
Binley Woods
Blackpool
Peterborough
Binley Woods
Solihull
Bognor Regis
March
Bolton
Lowestoft
Bournemouth
Slough
Bracknell
Southend-on-Sea
Bradford
Yaxley
Brighton & Hove
Inverness
Brixworth
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds
Coventry
Cambridge
Chatham & Gillingham
Cheltenham & Charlton Kings
Chester
Chichester & Arun
Coventry
Crawley
Horsham
Derby
Dewsbury
Doncaster
Dundee
Eastbourne
Edinburgh
Gateshead
Glasgow
Gloucester
Great Glen
Great Wakering
Great Yarmouth
Halifax
Harrogate & Ripon
Hartlepool
Hastings
Havant
High Wycombe
Huddersfield
Inverness
Ipswich
Kettering
Leeds
Leicester
Lincoln
Loughborough
Lowestoft
Luton
Maidenhead
March
Middlesbrough
Milton Keynes
New Edlington
Newark on Trent
Newcastle Upon Tyne
North Tyneside
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham
Peterborough
Plymouth
Poole
Christchurch
Portsmouth
Preston
Queniborough
Reading
Renfrewshire
Rochdale
Rochford
Rossington
Rotherham
Rothwell
Rugby
Sheffield
Slough
Solihull
Southend-on-Sea
St Helens
Stirling
Stockton-on-Tees
Sunderland
Swindon
Wakefield
Wellingborough
Weston-Super-Mare
Whittlesey
Wokingham
Wolverhampton
Worcester
Worthing
Yaxley
York
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that while CityFibre has already completed their primary builds for several locations, the operator can often still be found extending coverage (i.e. beyond their original build plan) in many of those same areas. Privately, we understand that, in urban locations, they usually target coverage of around 85%.