By Kristy Dorsey

Work is beginning in Glasgow on the next stage of one of Europe’s largest city-wide full fibre rollouts, with contractors already on several sites south of the Clyde.

The project will put Glasgow among the country's first "gigabit cities" – those with an entirely fibre network which increases the speed of internet connections and is more stable than normal broadband.

More than 1,200 public sector sites such as hospitals, schools and council buildings are already connected to the network from digital infrastructure provider CityFibre, which has been working with Glasgow City Council since 2016.

The network is also currently used by a few hundred businesses within the area. This next stage will bring full fibre to the wider business community, as well as private homes, with full deployment expected to be “substantially” completed by 2025.

READ MORE: Scotland to have one of UK's first 'Gigabit' cities in £1.5bn fibre broadband deal

"Glasgow has always been a city of ambition and the scale of our build matches that," CityFibre's David Cannon said.

“This is a huge project and one that signals the start of an exciting new chapter for the city, The network, once built, will serve its connectivity needs for decades to come and will power future economic growth which will be particularly important in the recovery from the pandemic.”

CityFibre will be working across several locations in the city at one time, including in the west from Cardonald to Govan, and the south-east where work is starting in the Eglinton Toll and Gorbals areas before moving to Oatlands and Langside and continuing to Rutherglen and Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire. East Renfrewshire is also part of the longer-term build plan.

Work is scheduled to begin in the north of the city later this year, while a separate build programme across Renfrewshire has been underway since last summer.