CityFibre gets to work in Newark

Construction of the £10m town-wide full fibre network has begun in Newark and is being delivered by Trust Utility Management on behalf of CityFibre. The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while managing 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 and CityFibre will be in touch by post ahead of any work starting.

The overall project is expected to reach completion by 2024 but the first services will go live for people to take advantage of much sooner. As the network is completed in each neighbourhood, CityFibre will designate the homes ‘ready for service’, which means residents can choose to connect to full fibre-enabled broadband services when they go live in their area.

In Newark, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner Vodafone to supply Full Fibre infrastructure for customers on selected Vodafone Pro Broadband plans, while TalkTalk, IDNet, Giganet, Zen and other providers are expected to join the network soon.

Speaking of the project, Dominika Walker, CityFibre’s Area Manager for Newark, said: “I’m immensely excited and proud to see work getting underway in town today. This is the start of an exciting new chapter for Newark 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.”

She added: “It’s also great to be working with Trust Utility Management again, which is our trusted build partner in Lincoln.”   

Full fibre networks, unlike many of the copper-based ‘fibre broadband’ services available today, use 100% fibre optic infrastructure 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.

Portfolio holder for Economic Development and Visitors at Newark and Sherwood District Council, Councillor Rhona Holloway, said: “Full fibre connectively is vital to secure and strengthen Newark’s future, levelling it with other key towns and cities across the country creating a faster digital age. This £10m infrastructure investment programme in the town is fantastic and it will benefit residents, services, and businesses enabling them to access quicker broadband speeds.

“Connectivity has never been so important and as we are progressing with key projects offering training opportunities such as the Air and Space Institute and Newark Construction College, and as we are investing in more opportunities for employment, business and trade, Newark is fast becoming a place where people and businesses can prosper.  Futureproofing Newark at a time when the town is going from strength to strength is absolutely vital.”

CityFibre is bringing full fibre connectivity within reach of up to eight million homes in towns and cities across the UK as part of its nationwide full fibre rollout. Find out more at www.cityfibre.com 

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and register their interest at www.cityfibre.com/pr