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‘Gig Up’ Campaign drives businesses to register for ultra-fast fibre-optic connectivity
Following CityFibre’s announcement of its investment in a new city-wide, pure fibre-optic network, today (30 January 2014) sees the launch of the ‘Gig Up’ registration campaign for Peterborough businesses. This campaign will encourage businesses to register their interest in taking the ultra-fast services that the new fibre network can deliver and influence the network roll-out.
The fibre network, known as the ‘Peterborough CORE’ will revolutionise the way that Peterborough businesses operate, delivering Gigabit speed services that are both accessible and affordable. Pure fibre connectivity means that businesses will no longer have to put up with the frustrations of slow and unreliable broadband due to the bottleneck in their connections resulting from the current copper-based network. It will also give Peterborough a digital head-start on other cities, by putting it in an elite group of the most advanced city-wide digital networks in the world, alongside the likes of Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Stockholm as well as other CityFibre projects in York and Bournemouth.
Many Peterborough businesses are hungry for faster speeds with several hundred having already joined a grass-roots campaign for better connectivity. Many of these have already shown interest in the network and will act as ambassadors for the Gig Up registration campaign. One such local business is APC Overnight with Barrie Richards commenting “If we had a thousand times faster Internet, it would streamline our business. We would be so slick, so fast at responding to our customers booking requests, it would be dreamland”.
CityFibre will commence roll-out of the Peterborough CORE in April 2014 and it will be complete approximately 12 months later. The prompt registration of businesses interested in being part of this digital revolution therefore is crucial, enabling CityFibre to map demand for services in different areas before building begins. The greater the interest, the wider the network roll-out will be.
Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: “The Gig Up campaign is Peterborough’s chance to influence our network roll-out. We have created a dedicated website www.PeterboroughCORE.com and we encourage all businesses in Peterborough to visit and register their interest. Registrations from the Gig Up Campaign allow us to map demand to ensure that we accommodate as many businesses as possible in the network design for the city. We will be rolling out the fibre network in five geographical areas in the city, and once a business has registered it will be kept informed of our progress, the services that are available and the likely connection dates for that particular area. The first businesses will be connected this summer, so if you’re a business that wants a faster, better connection, register now.”
Whilst registration will not commit a business to be part of Peterborough CORE, it is an important driver of the ultimate network design. Wherever possible, CityFibre will connect businesses to the network as it is deployed in a specific area, resulting in early access to services and a lower cost of connection than if crews have to return at a later date.
CityFibre’s objective in Peterborough is to help it become a Gigabit city by providing businesses with the huge benefits of ultra-fast connectivity. Symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 1000 Megabits per second will allow employees to transfer even the largest data files simultaneously with no delays. In addition, organisations will be able to extract maximum value from cloud services delivering a host of cost and time-saving benefits. A pure fibre network like the Peterborough CORE will provide an unbeatable, reliable performance long into the future.
Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council said, “Peterborough is the fastest growing city in the country and this investment will put us at the forefront of the UK’s digital economy. We have seen one of the highest increases in the number of jobs created in the private sector anywhere in the UK and this pure fibre network will help us to continue to build on this by attracting new companies, particularly from the technology sector, and allowing businesses of all sizes to utilise the internet for growth. Peterborough will now have one of the country’s best digital infrastructures and this should be seen as one of the most significant investments in the city’s history.”
More information on the Gig Up campaign can be found here www.peterboroughCORE.com
ENDS
CityFibre Media Contact:
Maggie Zaboura
Zaboura Consultancy Ltd
T. +44 203 5880804
E.maggie@zaboura.com
About CityFibre
CityFibre (www.cityfibre.com) is one of the UK’s leading fibre optic infrastructure providers. By building dedicated fibre optic networks for the public and private sectors, we empower data-hungry users throughout the country, by unleashing unlimited speeds on future-proofed technology.
Our transformational fibre infrastructure projects comprise point-to-point connections, metro rings and Fibre-to-the-Premises networks that make possible Next Generation Access and gigabit level services direct to local authorities, businesses and homes.
CityFibre manages over 100 private fibre projects in 50 towns and cities and seven separate metropolitan fibre networks under long-term contract with local authorities, police forces, healthcare organisations and universities. With 30,000km of fibre in the ground, connecting more than 350 sites and data centres across the UK, we are the country’s largest independent provider of fibre in secondary cities.
In Bournemouth, CityFibre owns the largest FTTH project in the UK. With over 21,000 homes ready for service, the network enables service providers to deliver unprecedented ultrafast broadband with speeds of up to one gigabit per second.