CITYFIBRE has said more than 200 businesses have expressed interest in using the high speed fibre optic network it is building in Edinburgh.
The AIM-listed firm started work last month on the initial 50 kilometre section of the network, which it has said will be a major catalyst to the growth of Edinburgh's substantial digital economy.
The company did not give details of the firms that had registered an interest in the first phase, which it expects to be ready for use in late summer .
However, chief executive Greg Mesch said the response amounted to a strong start for the Edinburgh programme. This will be delivered in partnership with Commsworld, the Edinburgh-based telecoms firm.
CityFibre said: "Commsworld has ... signed contracts with a number of new customers, including The Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Apex Hotels and The Law Society of Scotland, all of whom will benefit from the enhanced connectivity which CityFibre's Edinburgh CORE network will bring."
When registration opened in May CityFibre said the first phase would bring the benefits of ultra-fast gigabit internet connectivity to more than 7,000 businesses, "future proofing them as the need for bandwidth continues to grow exponentially in the coming years".
CityFibre expects the network to run for 150 kilometres eventually.
It has already done similar projects in Aberdeen, Coventry, Peterborough and York.
Businesses that register an interest are not obliged to sign up for services. However, CityFibre will make final decisions about where the network will be sited based on where interest has been shown.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article