Work to bring full fibre connectivity within reach of almost every home and business in Blackpool gets underway today as CityFibre breaks ground on a new infrastructure roll out that will futureproof the town’s digital needs for generations to come.
Construction of the £60m town-wide full fibre network, which complements the Blackpool & Fylde Coast FFN, has begun in the Moor Park area of Bispham and is being delivered by Telent on behalf of CityFibre. The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Blackpool 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 and CityFibre will be in touch by mail ahead of any work starting.
The overall project is expected to reach completion by 2024 and the first services will go live for people to take advantage of much sooner. 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, with TalkTalk and other providers expected to join the network in future. Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and pre-register their interest at www.cityfibre.com/Blackpoolbuild.
Speaking of the project, Steve Thorpe, CityFibre’s City Manager for Blackpool, said: I’m immensely excited and proud to see work getting underway in Blackpool today. 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.
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.
