The UK’s Sky and TalkTalk have joined forces with CityFibre to create a new company that will deliver ultra-fast broadband services in the city of York.
Working with Fujitsu, the new joint venture company plans to build a state of the art, city-wide, pure FTTP network to deliver broadband speeds of 1 GB direct to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
It will leverage CityFibre’s existing metro fibre infrastructure, and once the?ultra-fast network is in place, Sky and TalkTalk will retail competing broadband services over the?new infrastructure, with the first York customers expected to be connected in 2015.
The network will be entirely independent from BT Openreach’s infrastructure and the parties plan to also offer ultra-fast broadband in two other cities in the UK.
Commenting on the development, Dido Harding, chief executive of TalkTalk Group, said: “TalkTalk has a long history and proven?track record of disrupting new markets, and this is the next step in that journey. We are excited to?be working in partnership with Sky and CityFibre to build this new network that will offer?significantly higher speeds at much better value than is currently available. This marks TalkTalk? taking its first steps into investing in building infrastructure as part of our mission to make British?homes and businesses better off.”
Stephen van Rooyen, MD of Sky’s Sales, Marketing and Brand Group, said:?“Increased competition in the broadband market has brought benefits to millions of households?who now enjoy better quality and value of service. Sky has led the growth of the sector since the?launch of Sky Broadband, becoming the UK’s favourite provider of TV, broadband and home phone,?and we see plenty of opportunity to continue to develop our offering. This trial will help us?understand the potential for cutting-edge technology to help us give customers an even better?quality of service and we’re looking forward to working in partnership with TalkTalk and CityFibre.”
?Greg Mesch, chief executive of CityFibre, said: “As a business that believes in the transformative?potential of pure fibre infrastructure and gigabit speeds to stimulate growth and innovation this ?partnership is great news for UK plc. Working with two of the largest and most forward-thinking?service providers in the UK we will continue to extend our existing metro fibre infrastructure and?introduce a new generation of gigabit speed services to homes and businesses.”
?Cllr James Alexander, leader of City of York council said: “This announcement makes York the?digital infrastructure capital of the UK. Gaining ultra fast broadband across the city is a huge boost?for our economy, providing significant new opportunities for businesses based here and better?quality and value to our residents.
?“I’m delighted that York has been chosen as the first city, building on work over the last two years?to improve the city’s digital infrastructure, and that we’ll see this in place as soon as 2015”.