Coventry Becomes Latest CityFibre Gigabit City

Coventry will be the UK’s third Gigabit City after CityFibre reached an agreement to acquire the city’s 140km metro fibre network.

The strategic partnership between the company and Coventry City Council will spawn a network known as Coventry CORE that will give thousands of businesses access to speeds of 1000Mbps via local ISPs from this summer.

“As a Gigabit City, Coventry can now set itself alongside the most digitally advanced locations around the world and we look forward to the numerous social and economic advantages that such a status will bring; driving economic investment and catalysing business start-ups,” said Cllr Damian Gannon, Cabinet Member, Strategic Finance and Resources, at Coventry City Council.

Coventry City Council first commissioned the infrastructure for the network six years ago and it currently serves 300 buildings that include council offices, schools and community centres.

CityFibre’s expansion efforts will be “demand-led” and it has kicked off a pre-registration campaign dubbed Gig Up Coventry that aims to persuade businesses to register an interest in the high-speed service. CityFibre launched a similar campaign in Peterborough and has already seen 500 business registrations.

“The rise of the Gigabit City represents a step-change in the evolution of digital connectivity as significant as the shift from dial-up to broadband. As a Gigabit City, Coventry will position itself at the heart of the UK economy as the technological revolution continues to gather pace,” said Gary Mesch, CityFibre CEO.

Coventry sits alongside York and Peterborough in the Gigabit City ranks and the city is also already a part of the SuperConnected Cities programme that offers vouchers to businesses towards the cost of high-speed broadband with CityFibre also fully participating in the scheme.