Infrastructure provider CityFibre has inked a deal with leading Scottish network service provider, Commsworld, to deploy a pure fibre optic network in Edinburgh.
The project will see 150km of fibre optic cable being installed in the city which will allow over 7,000 businesses across Edinburgh to get benefit from broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbps. The initial building phase, covering around 50 kilometres of the total 150km plan, is expected to begin this summer.
As part of the contractual commitment between the two, Commsworld will migrate a significant proportion of its large existing base of business customers onto CityFibre’s new fit-for-purpose infrastructure.
CityFibre has previously launched Gigabit City projects in Coventry, Peterborough, York, Aberdeen and more recently Newport.
CityFibre chief executive, Greg Mesch, said “With thriving financial, tech and media sectors, Edinburgh’s businesses are poised to take advantage of a digital head-start, providing them with a competitive advantage at home and abroad.
“We are seeing huge demand for ultra-fast connectivity and as we continue this shift from manufacturing to service based economies, a modern digital infrastructure could not be more critical to a city’s success.
“Commsworld is a perfect partner with which to transform Edinburgh’s digital landscape and we look forward to demonstrating the capabilities and contribution of next generation infrastructure to both the public and private sectors.”
Commsworld chief executive Ricky Nicol said “As a company constantly looking for new ways of improving communication solutions for businesses, we are hugely excited to have partnered with CityFibre to bring the benefits of pure fibre connectivity to our customers and to the city of Edinburgh as a whole.
“Ultra-fast gigabit connectivity appeals hugely to digitally dependant businesses and this is only going to grow with time. It will soon become the standard, driving productivity, innovation and the bottom line.”
Welcoming the announcement, John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy said the investment would aid Scotland in achieving its goal of having ‘world class digital connectivity’ by 2020.
