Cityfibre puts Openreach to shame – three new cities on full-fibre lineup
With the recent announcement that Openreach is bringing full-fibre to Coventry, local politicians and policymakers cheered at the billions of taxpayers’ money being put to use for the benefit of the area.
Meanwhile, private company Cityfibre has announced plans to expand their own full-fibre networks to three more cities – Cambridge, Leeds, and Southend-on-Sea .
These latest expansions bring CityFibre’s total investment to £465 million, and they certainly have the cash to keep going – the company was bought out for £538 million in June this year.
In addition to established ‘dark fibre’ networks, which already reach over four million premises, CityFibre is currently finalising new full-fibre networks in Milton Keynes, Aberdeen, and Peterborough.
Packages are set to go on sale in November 2018, sold through CityFibre’s partner, Vodafone.
Government-backed Openreach is certainly trailing behind the pace set by CityFibre, as well as other full-fibre providers, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic. However, this is all in service of the government’s aim to completely replace the outdated copper telephone network by 2025.
The full fibre age is taking hold across the UK and CityFibre is leading the charge. Britain should prepare for a copper-to-fibre switchover as this aging technology cannot keep up with the UK’s connectivity needs.
There’s also shaping up to be a lot more competition between full-fibre providers, which can only be a good thing for consumers.
With Openreach, Virgin Media, and new suppliers like CityFibre all fighting for the best service, prices, and availability, we’re going to be looking at a far less monopolised landscape than the one we currently have.
Unfortunately, full-fibre remains a costly purchase for customers. Vodafone announced their price point for 900 Mbps connections at £48 a month – finding the middle ground between Gigaclear’s £75.00 and TalkTalk’s impressive £23.50 subscription (only available in York).
Full-fibre infrastructure will also be vital in the rollout of 5G wireless broadband, which is set to begin by 2020.
Image: btphotosbduk
