CityFibre introduces MP Chris Matheson to full fibre works in Chester

With construction of its new full fibre network for Chester now well underway, CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, welcomed Chris Matheson, Labour MP for Chester and Cllr Richard Beacham for a tour of the works, giving both a closer look at the £23m project.

During the visit, Mr. Matheson and Cllr Beacham met representatives from CityFibre and were introduced to the full fibre digital infrastructure. They were also provided with demonstrations of the typical build process, including excavation and reinstatement, as well as a tour of the Fibre Exchange.

The project forms part of CityFibre’s up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme which will bring full fibre connectivity within reach of up to 8 million homes and businesses across the UK.

Unlike the majority of the digital infrastructure accessible to households today, full fibre networks use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection. This gives users consistently faster speeds for upload and download (up to 1,000 Mbps), near limitless bandwidth and connectivity users can depend on. 

Speaking of the tour, Julie Derbyshire, City Manager for Chester at CityFibre, said: “It’s great to see such enthusiasm and excitement for the digital infrastructure we’re building beneath the streets of Chester. This new network will enable unbeatable homeworking and digital entertainment experiences and we look forward to giving residents more of a choice when it comes to connectivity.

“Aside from the benefits it will bring to residents on a personal level, experts say this new and improved digital network will drive a range of economic benefits for the whole of Chester, such as making us more productive and innovative. As the world moves increasingly online, full fibre will future-proof Chester and make it one of the best-connected cities in the world.”

Commenting on the progress of Cityfibre’s £23m project, MP Chris Matheson said: “The build progress is very encouraging and it’s great to be assured that households and businesses throughout the Chester will see enormous benefits in the next few months.

“Becoming one of the best-connected cities in the UK with CityFibre’s state-of-the-art infrastructure is vital to Chester`s future. I am so pleased to see CityFibre’s work with Cheshire West and Chester Council progressing. Chester is a historic city which we are rightly proud, but we must also seize technological change and become a connected city too - this will support our economic, social and smart city ambitions for the future.”

Construction is being delivered by Telent Infrastructure on behalf of CityFibre. The team is using a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Cheshire West and Chester council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while minimising potential disruption. 

As the network is completed in each neighborhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will ‘light them up’ with some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available in the country. 

In Chester, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers including Vfast, the Kent based internet service provider. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to supply full fibre infrastructure for customers on selected Vodafone Pro Broadband plans, TalkTalk and Zen, with other providers expected to join the network soon.

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and register their interest at:

http://www.cityfibre.com/PR-Register.

About CityFibre:

CityFibre is the UK’s largest independent Full Fibre infrastructure platform. We provide digital infrastructure that enables our wholesale customers to provide ultra-fast, reliable and futureproof broadband, ethernet and 5G services to homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, GPs surgeries and anything else that needs connecting.

We have a £4bn Full Fibre network rollout programme underway which is on track to serve up to a third of the UK by 2025; that’s 8m homes, 800k businesses, 400k local authority sites and 250k 5G access points. We’ve already announced 285 cities, towns and villages which will receive a transformational digital upgrade as part of our nationwide rollout.

As the nation’s only 100% Full Fibre wholesale network, CityFibre is trusted by major Internet Service Providers and mobile operators including TalkTalk, Three, Vodafone and Zen as we are actively supporting a new generation of smaller regional ISPs dedicated to delivering Full Fibre Broadband.

CityFibre is based in London and is owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding.

www.cityfibre.com

Pictured - Gavin Buchan, Area Build Manager at CityFibre; Chris Matheson, MP; Mark Williams, City Build Manager at CityFibre; and Julie Derbyshire, CityFibre’s City Manager for Chester.