Fibre Provider's weekly news round-up

Fibre Provider enables the spectrum of organisations driving the UK’s fibre rollout to keep up to date with the latest commercial, regulatory and planning news alongside insight and analysis from sector experts. As part of this mission, our weekly newsletter compiles the top news that broke during the week and brings it straight to your inbox.

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In this week's news...

CityFibre secures five new Project Gigabit contracts

Five new Project Gigabit contracts have been awarded to CityFibre totalling over ￡394m of government subsidy.

The contracts cover the rollout of full fibre infrastructure to over 202,000 rural properties in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes

CityFibre will extend its rollout to cover 450,000 additional premises on a commercial basis as it optimises its nationwide rollout programme to accommodate Project Gigabit.

Planning will begin immediately with the first premises expected to be connected in early 2025.

Greg Mesch , CEO at CityFibre, said: “As a key delivery partner for the government on this critical infrastructure project, we are transforming the digital capabilities of rural homes and businesses across the country.”

CityFibre has been awarded a total of nine Project Gigabit contracts to date, worth ￡782m in subsidies.

Two Project Gigabit contracts awarded to Connexin

Connexin has secured ￡58.6m in government funding to roll out full fibre to 34,000 rural properties in Nottinghamshire and west Lincolnshire.

Through two Gigabit Project contracts, Connexin will expand its fibre network to hard-to-reach premises across Kirkby in Ashfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Annesley, Wragby and Market Rasen.

Connexin has also committed support to community initiatives and will provide career mentoring and apprenticeship programmes to locals.

Furqan Alamgir , CEO at Connexin, said: “We believe that everyone has the right to the same opportunities, and we firmly believe in digital inclusion and what it can unlock.”

Connexin has started the planning and design works to enable the first premises to be connected to the network in early 2025.

Gigabit Networks expands into Scotland with CityFibre

Gigabit Network partners can now offer CityFibre services in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Renfrewshire, as the company establishes roots north of the border.?

Tim Loveday , Gigabit Networks Head of New Business and Channel Sales commented: “Expanding into Scotland is another step for Gigabit Networks and our partners and will support them to make the most of the opportunities this presents.”

This follows Gigabit Network’s recent milestone of bringing one million businesses on net.

The company currently offers access to FullFibre Limited , Freedom Fibre , Telecom/Giga Britain, ITS , Vodafone , MS3 Networks Limited and CityFibre services.

UK Fibre Awards Open for Entries

We want to receive your Best Sustainability Programme entry in 2024.

In 2023 Freedom Fibre were the winner of this category. Joseph Mason CertIOSH AIEMA, HSQE Manager at Freedom Fibre had this to say about their success…

“We have had to think creatively about how we can best deliver positive impacts that benefit the local communities in our build areas.?‘Protect the Planet’ is one of our core values and we are living this value in our day-to-day work.?We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by our industry peers, winning ‘Best Sustainability Programme at the 2023 UK Fibre Awards.”

For details on how to enter your top teams, contact Jonathan Holmes for entry forms or for sponsorship enquiries/details on how to attend the event, contact Heather Miles.

Truespeed adds TV with Sky partnership

Truespeed is adding TV and streaming services to its broadband offering through a partnership with Sky .

The altnet will offer Sky TV and Netflix to new customers and its existing base of 95,000 ready for service homes.

Nelson Missier , CCO at Truespeed said: “More and more British customers stream video and TV channels through their internet connection.”

The Sky Stream service combines multiple On-Demand streaming services, such as Prime Video, Apple+, Disney+, ITV, 4OD and iPlayer, through one unified interface. It also comes loaded with hundreds of standard Freeview channels.

Fibre now available to 60% of premises, finds THINKBROADBAND LTD

Full fibre is now available to over 6 in 10 UK households according to the third annual State of Broadband Report by thinkbroadband.

It estimates that 85% coverage will be achieved in September 2025, a delay to last year’s prediction, and that 95% coverage will be achieved by May 2026.

Across UK nations, the report shows that Northern Ireland’s coverage remains ahead at 94.1%, with England second at 60.2%, Wales third at 59.2% and Scotland lagging with 54.8%.

The progress in Northern Ireland is largely driven by Project Stratum, therefore, despite its impressive coverage numbers, only 29.4% of premises are addressed by an altnet.

This is higher in England where 31.8% of premises can take fibre services from an altnet. Scotland comes third by this metric at 25.3%.

Only 10.7% of premises in Wales can access fibre services from an altnet, according to thinkbroadband.

So far 16 authorities have over 90% coverage with City of Kingston upon Hull leading the race.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back here next Friday for the latest news update. Be sure to subscribe at the top of this newsletter to get your copy.