£30 million works to bring superfast broadband to Peterborough get a boost

Cityfibre, which is leading the £30 million project, has appointed a second construction partner.

It has chosen Telcabo, which has served the telecommunications sector since it was established in Portugal in the 1980s, to start work in the Ortons this month.

Telcabo will build on the work done so far by Morrison Utility Services in Garton End, New England, Paston, Dogsthorpe, Newark, Eastfield, Parnwell as well as the Ortons.

Rebecca Stephens, CityFibre’s city manager for Peterborough, said: “Just 12 months ago, we got to work on extending the network citywide.

“Now, we are appointing our second contractor and preparing to scale up our build programme.

“We look forward to working with Telcabo as we move into new areas of the city and light up more streets with reliable, gigabit capable broadband connectivity. We will be applying our learnings from the build so far and doing what we can to manage disruption and minimise the time we spend in each location.”

Rui Rosa, general manager for Telcabo, added: “We’re very excited to be working with CityFibre and the Peterborough community to deliver this transformational project and help future proof the city’s digital capabilities for decades to come.

“We bring to the project decades of experience in deploying digital infrastructure and like CityFibre, we are committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver a quality build and maintain effective communication with residents as we progress through the city.”

It is hoped the fibre-to-the-premises project will bring reliable, high capacity, gigabit-capable broadband within reach of every home and business in the city by the end of 2021.

CityFibre started work in Peterborough six years ago by connecting 100 public sector sites including schools, libraries and offices, in partnership with Peterborough City Council.

The new 120km network was opened to business users in 2015, before it was extended to an additional 220 local authority sites in 2018.

Councillor John Holdich, leader of Peterborough City Council, said: “Access to full fibre already plays an important role in Peterborough’s economic and civic life, and this will continue as the roll out reaches new areas and we unlock new digital capabilities as a smart city.

“The council has been working closely with CityFibre on this project and it is fantastic to see it gather momentum with Telcabo’s appointment just one year in.”