The Scotsman

Full fibre broadband for Aberdeen in ‘Scottish first’

● £40m roll-out for gigabit speed city-wide network

- By LUCINDA CAMERON

0 Aberdeen will see Scotland’s first city-wide network offering homes and businesses access to gigabit-speed broadband Aberdeen is to become the first Scottish city where nearly every home and business can access gigabit-speed broadband, service providers have announced.

Cityfibre will invest at least £40 million in the city-wide roll-out of full fibre broadband as part of the Fibre-to-thepremise­s (FTTP) programme in partnershi­p with Vodafone.

The infrastruc­ture provider will start constructi­on of the new FTTP network in Aberdeen

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in July this year and the first live services are expected by early 2019.

Fibre optic cables are used for every stage of the connection, from the customer’s home or business to the Internet, meaning Vodafone will be able to provide customers with ultrafast broadband services capable of Gigabit speeds (1,000 Megabits per second).

Vodafone UK chief executive Nick Jeffery said: “Our gigabit broadband services, delivered over Cityfibre’s new full fibre networks, will help Aberdeen build on its credential­s in innovation and as one of the best places to start a business.

“It will also transform consumers’ daily lives through superior internet access.”

Vodafone and City Fibre said Aberdeen was chosen for the project because of the city’s emergent tech sector, the council’s forward-looking commitment to “smart city” initiative­s, and the strength of its support for the project.

Customers in Aberdeen will be able to pre-register for the Vodafone full fibre service from Wednesday.

Greg Mesch, Cityfibre chief executive, added: “Our existing network in Aberdeen provides us with an eighteenmo­nth head-start on a full fibre roll-out to nearly every home and business in the city.

“With similar FTTP backbone networks already built in over 40 UK towns and cities, our contributi­on to nation- al full fibre coverage is well under way.”

Aberdeen is the second UK location to be announced as part of a strategic partnershi­p between Vodafone and Cityfibre, with Milton Keynes the first place chosen. The partnershi­p focuses on extending Cityfibre’s existing FTTP infrastruc­ture to around 12 cities and reaching one million homes across the UK by 2021.

Douglas Lumsden, co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, welcomed the commitment to Aberdeen.

He said: “Aberdeen City Council is determined to lead from the front in digital transforma­tion and enhance the city’s standing on the global stage.”

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