Vodafone and CityFibre Bring Gigabit-Speed Fibre to the UK
09 November 2017 - 6:01PM
Business Wire
- Strategic partnership to deliver
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure to up to 5 million
homes and businesses
Vodafone and CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative provider of
wholesale fibre network infrastructure, today announced a long-term
strategic partnership that will bring ultrafast Gigabit-capable
full fibre broadband to up to five million UK homes and businesses
by 2025.
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the full release here:
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Under the wholesale agreement, Vodafone will have a period of
exclusive rights (predominantly during the build phase of each city
network) to market ultrafast consumer broadband services on the
FTTP network to be built, operated and owned by CityFibre.
Construction of the first phase of deployment to one million
premises is due to start in the first half of 2018 and will be
largely complete in 2021. Both parties have the right to extend the
commercial terms of this agreement to expand coverage to a further
four million homes and businesses by 2025.
FTTP networks use fibre-optic cables for every stage of the
connection from the customer’s home or workplace to the Internet,
providing extremely fast and reliable broadband services capable of
Gigabit speeds (1,000 mbps). FTTP broadband connections are vastly
superior to outdated networks that rely on old copper telephone
lines to connect to the customer’s premises, enhancing business
productivity and transforming consumers’ daily lives.
The Vodafone and CityFibre partnership represents one of the
most significant developments in UK telecommunications since the
launch of ADSL broadband around 17 years ago. The partnership will
help to bridge Britain’s fibre gap, bringing world-class
Gigabit-capable FTTP connections to households, businesses and
public sector sites such as schools, hospitals and GP surgeries,
and delivering 50% of the UK Government’s target of ‘full fibre’ to
10 million homes and businesses. Advanced fibre networks are also
critical for mobile networks, providing the very high-capacity
backhaul connections required for 5G mobile services from the early
2020s onwards.
The agreement provides Vodafone UK with access to a superior
product at a lower cost and with better service conditions than the
regulated wholesale terms offered by the incumbent operator for
access to its legacy copper telephone line broadband network. It is
consistent with Vodafone Group’s capital-smart fixed infrastructure
strategy that aims for an optimal mix of build/strategic
partnership/wholesale/buy approaches in fixed broadband. This
strategy has positioned Vodafone as the fastest growing broadband
provider in Europe, marketing high-speed broadband services to 99
million European homes – a footprint that will be expanded further
under this agreement.
Chief Executive of CityFibre Greg Mesch said: “This agreement
will unlock the UK’s full fibre future and is a major step forward
in delivering our vision for a Gigabit Britain. With this
commitment from Vodafone, we have a partner with whom we can
transform the digital capabilities of millions of homes and
businesses and establish an unassailable wholesale infrastructure
position across 20% of the UK broadband market.”
Vodafone UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery said: “Vodafone is
already playing the leading role in building the Gigabit Society
across Europe by providing customers with high-speed, high-quality
broadband. The UK has fallen far behind the rest of the world,
trapped by the limited choice available on legacy networks. We look
forward to working with CityFibre to build the Gigabit fibre
network that the UK needs and deserves.”
Summary of key terms:
- CityFibre will build, operate and own
this new FTTP network, providing wholesale access to Vodafone and
other service providers.
- Construction of the first phase of
deployment to one million premises is due to start in the first
half of 2018 and will be largely complete in 2021. The first towns
and cities to benefit from the FTTP rollout will be announced over
the coming months.
- Marketing of FTTP services will
commence from mid-2018 with the first customers connected towards
the end of 2018.
- Vodafone has made a minimum
volume-based commitment for 10 years which increases over the
period to 20% of the initial one million premises. In turn,
Vodafone has been granted a period of exclusivity, city-by-city,
for consumer FTTP, predominately during the construction
phase.
- The first phase of the agreement
encompassing one million homes is estimated by CityFibre to be
worth over £500 million over 20 years, assuming that the ten-year
20% minimum volume commitment is maintained throughout the
subsequent ten years.
- Both parties have the right to extend
these terms to further roll-outs reaching up to four million
additional premises by 2025.
About Vodafone GroupVodafone Group is one of the world’s
largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of
services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications.
Vodafone Group has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with
mobile networks in 49 more, and fixed broadband operations in 19
markets. As of 30 June 2017, Vodafone Group had 523.5 million
mobile customers and 18.5 million fixed broadband customers,
including India and all of the customers in Vodafone’s joint
ventures and associates. For more information, please visit:
www.vodafone.com
About CityFibreCityFibre is the UK’s largest alternative
provider of wholesale full fibre network infrastructure. It has
major metro duct and fibre footprints in 42 cities across the UK, a
national long distance network, and provides a portfolio of active
and dark fibre services. The company has an extensive customer base
spanning service integrators, enterprise and consumer service
providers and mobile operators. CityFibre is based in London,
United Kingdom, and its shares trade on the AIM Market of the
London Stock Exchange (AIM: CITY). Further information on the
company can be found at www.cityfibre.com
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For VodafoneVodafone Group Investor RelationsTelephone:
+44 (0)7919 990 230Email: ir@vodafone.co.ukorVodafone UK Media
RelationsTelephone: 01635 693 693Email:
ukmediarelations@vodafone.comorFor CityFibreNational and
Investment MediaVigo CommunicationsJeremy Garcia/Fiona HensonTel:
020 7830 9703Email: cityfibre@vigocomms.comorTrade and Regional
MediaWeber ShandwickTel: 07738 086 818Email:
dowen@webershandwick.com
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