Vodafone becomes CityFibre’s anchor customer for UK Full Fibre deployment
UK broadband altnet operator CityFibre says it has significantly expanded its alliance with Vodafone. The latter has placed a long-term order of sufficient volume to make the service provider CityFibre’s anchor customer as it continues its £4 billion Full Fibre fiber to the premises (FTTP) rollout.
Vodafone and CityFibre initially partnered in 2017 (see “Vodafone chooses CityFibre FTTP network for UK broadband delivery”). The expanded agreement will see CityFibre provide Full Fibre FTTP for Vodafone to 8 million homes across 285 municipalities by 2025, which will make Vodafone the UK’s largest retail broadband provider, the companies say.
CityFibre already reaches more than 1 million homes and plans to link together its existing networks into what it calls its National Access network. CityFibre asserts it will be able to deliver to Vodafone and other wholesale broadband services providers an installation date five days after receiving a connection order.
“We want to see a competitive market that brings the benefits of Full Fibre to more people,” commented Ahmed Essam, CEO at Vodafone UK. “We’ve had a very successful partnership with CityFibre since 2017, and we look forward to continuing working together to connect more of the UK to Full Fibre. Through our partnership with wholesale providers, we’re going to be bringing Full Fibre to more homes than any other retail provider.”
“Through our strategic partnership, Vodafone has made a powerful decision to back CityFibre and help establish wholesale infrastructure competition for the UK,” added Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre. “Thanks in large part to its continued support, CityFibre has now emerged as the nation’s leading independent Full Fibre platform, with the best wholesale products, attractive economics and a network scaling rapidly across the UK. We’re delighted that Vodafone continues to have full confidence in our network and is now anchoring our entire Full Fibre rollout nationwide.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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