CityFibre gets to work on futureproofing March's digital foundations with £5m Full Fibre investment

Construction of the £5m town-wide full fibre network has begun in March and is being delivered by Granemore Group on behalf of CityFibre. The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Fenland District Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while minimising potential disruption.

Each area will usually take a few weeks to complete, however, construction teams will typically only be outside each home for two to three days. As the network is completed in each neighbourhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will 'light them up' with some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available in the country.

The network is not yet live, but once activated, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to deliver next generation broadband services as well as TalkTalk, Zen and other providers. Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and pre-register their interest on the CityFibre website.

Speaking of the project, Rebecca Stephens, Regional Partnership Director and CityFibre's City Manager for March, said: "I'm immensely excited and proud to see work getting underway in March. This is the start of an exciting new chapter for the town as it gets ready to thrive in the digital age. It's important to remember that any short-term disruption will pay off tremendously in the long-term - once the network's built, it will serve the community's connectivity needs for decades to come."

Full fibre networks, unlike many of the copper-based 'fibre broadband' services available today, 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 speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps for upload and download, near limitless bandwidth and connectivity users can depend on.

A full fibre connection also goes far beyond simply enabling access to the latest entertainment at lightning speed. As an essential digital utility, full fibre boosts households and businesses alike, with experts saying it will drive a range of economic benefits, such as making us more productive and innovative.

Commenting on the CityFibre project, Steve Barclay, Member of Parliament for North East Cambridgeshire, said: "Access to good broadband connectivity is an essential part of modern life and CityFibre's £5m investment in full fibre for March is a huge boost that will make it one of the best connected places in the UK, drive economic benefit and complement existing improvements planned for the town."

Cllr Chris Boden, Leader of Fenland District Council, said: "It is fantastic that CityFibre is now ready to start delivering its £5m infrastructure investment programme in March, which will deliver a town-wide network that will benefit residents, businesses and services alike. This is a once in a generation upgrade that will futureproof our network infrastructure at a time when connectivity has never been so important."

Cllr Jan French, Deputy Leader of Fenland District Council and county, district and town ward member for March, added: "Good connectivity is vital - whether it's to work from home, access education and public services, or for gaming and streaming entertainment - so I'm delighted to see this upgrade taking place in March. It will help to close the digital divide and complement the other fantastic developments taking place in the town as part of the March Future High Streets Fund work and March Area Transport Study."

CityFibre is bringing full fibre connectivity within reach of up to 8 million homes in towns and cities across the UK as part of its up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme. Find out more on the CityFibre website.

Article date: January 2022