CITYFIBRE is today showcasing the “largest city-wide investment for full fibre deployment in the UK”, in Glasgow.

The firm is to highlight part of its city-wide full fibre roll-out across Glasgow city region at its network construction sites in the Simshill during a tour by Kate Forbes MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy.

The project represents a total investment of £270 million, and is also one of the largest made for a city-wide full fibre roll-out in Europe.

The undertaking forms part of CityFibre’s £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme which will bring full fibre networks within reach of up to eight million homes and 800,000 businesses by 2025.

It said the new network will boost connectivity for millions of people in 285 cities towns and villages across the UK, providing them with "far faster and more reliable" full fibre broadband service. The Glasgow city region roll-out spans seven of the local authority areas from Renfrewshire in the west to North and South Lanarkshire in the east and Glasgow City, East Renfrewshire and East and West Dunbartonshire Councils.

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In total more than 2600km of fibre optic infrastructure is being laid in the project.

Construction is being undertaken by local build partners including PMK and Glenevin. Since beginning the wider full fibre network construction last year, the project has created over 100 jobs with more expected over coming years.

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Ms Forbes said: “I welcome the investment CityFibre has made in its full fibre roll-out across the Glasgow city region and recognise its impact as a new and ambitious digital infrastructure provider. Commercial developments like these complement our own investment programmes, helping people stay connected and driving forward our economic recovery from the pandemic.

"Accessing fast and reliable broadband has never been so important. That is why the Scottish Government is making substantial infrastructure investments to ensure all parts of Scotland have equal access to high speed internet.

“We are determined to use all levers at our disposal to support telecoms operators, taking action where we can to, for instance, change the planning system and extend non-domestic rates relief for a further five years to accelerate investment in digital infrastructure.”

Greg Mesch, chief executive of CityFibre, said: “We’re delighted to affirm CityFibre’s commitment to Glasgow’s full fibre future.

"This represents the single largest investment we are making in any location in the UK and have already made huge headway, rolling out world class digital infrastructure that already digitally empowers communities and businesses across the Glasgow city eegion to bounce back from the pandemic.”

The roll-out will cover more than 540,000 premises across Glasgow city region by 2025. Broadband services are available over CityFibre’s networks from Internet Service Providers including Vodafone, TalkTalk and Scottish provider Brawband. Other ISPs will be joining the network in the coming months.