Following the announcement of a £40m private investment, city residents are joining hundreds of local businesses and public sector sites already enjoying the benefits of full fibre connectivity.
CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure, is building out from its existing 100km network, established in Aberdeen back in 2015. When CityFibre completes the project, an additional 900km will have been laid, bringing full fibre connectivity to almost every single home and business across the city.
The average download speed in Aberdeen is currently 13.5Mbps, causing frustration for many in what is an increasingly digital world. Full fibre offers Gigabit-capable speeds (up to 1,000 Mbps), as well as improved quality and reliability. Traditional ‘fibre-to-the-cabinet’ (FTTC) connections rely on historic copper lines between street cabinets and properties. This has limited capability and is considered to be not fit-for-purpose for future needs. CityFibre’s ‘fibre-to-the-premises’ (FTTP) network brings a full fibre connection directly into the property, transforming digital capabilities and delivering world-class infrastructure, which will serve for many decades to come.
According to Ofcom, at the end of 2018, only 6% of UK premises had access to FTTP broadband – meaning Aberdeen is truly at the forefront of future-proof digital connectivity. And the first households are already accessing this game changing network through CityFibre’s strategic partner, Vodafone’s Gigafast broadband packages.
As for the rest of the city, CityFibre is confident its programme will be largely complete by 2021. This is great news for the local economy, with the city-wide roll out bringing the network within reach of many more businesses.
Allan McEwan, CityFibre’s City Development Manager for Aberdeen, said:
“Aberdeen was chosen as the first city in Scotland to receive this multimillion-pound investment because of the city’s emerging tech sector, the council’s forward-looking commitment to developing ‘smart city’ initiatives and the strength of support for the project.
“This is a major chapter in Aberdeen’s digital story with the benefits touching all aspects of society. From smart city applications and enabling 5G, to helping businesses become more productive and increasing the ability to work effectively from home, full fibre is truly transformational.”