CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, is continuing its £15m digital transformation of Lowestoft with construction moving into Carlton, Whitton and Oulton Broad in the coming months. This adds to CityFibre’s growing presence in Lowestoft where work is nearing completion in the north of the town.
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.
Broadband providers TalkTalk, Air Broadband, Zen and Giganet are currently using CityFibre’s network to bring gigabit-capable broadband services to Lowestoft, with services now live for the first connected residents across Gunton and St. Margarets, Harbour and Normanston and much of Oulton Broad. CityFibre’s UK launch partner Vodafone and local provider InTouch Systems will be launching services in the coming weeks.
Charles Kitchin, CityFibre’s Area Manager for Lowestoft, said:
“We are making real strides in bringing seamless digital connectivity to homes and businesses across Lowestoft, with many people already enjoying the benefits of reliable, lightning-speed full fibre broadband.
“As we move into new areas of the town, with the continued support of East Suffolk Council, Suffolk County Council and the local community, we will do all that we can to deliver a swift rollout, manage potential disruption and minimise the time we spend in each location.”
Cllr Stephen Burroughes, East Suffolk's Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Operational Partnerships and Digital Transformation added:
“This is another significant step in what we see as a potential digital revolution for Lowestoft. In 2019, we agreed plans to explore extending the Suffolk Cloud project to include homes and businesses, as well as public sector organisations in Lowestoft and nine other towns.
“Enabling the installation of ultrafast broadband throughout the town means we can help unlock economic growth and regeneration, hampered in recent decades by geographical remoteness. Boosting the town’s digital capability can only help towards making it an attractive area for further investment."
Lowestoft is one of a growing number of locations in the UK to benefit from CityFibre’s £4bn Gigabit City investment programme which will bring new and better broadband infrastructure within reach of up to 8m homes and businesses nationwide.
Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build, pre-register their interest and find out when new ISPs join at www.cityfibre.com/residential.