There are 36 places on the new list, which will bring the total number of premises identified for CityFibre’s network to five million across 62 towns and cities.
In parallel, CityFibre has also accelerated the mobilisation of its network build capabilities, with a process under way to award £1.5bn in construction contracts by the summer and network build brought forward in the vast majority of these towns and cities by the end of the year.
The company said that the roll-out will unlock 5,000 construction jobs.
CityFibre, the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform, has revealed 36 additional locations to benefit from full fibre as part of its Gigabit City Investment Programme, which is worth up to £4bn
Amongst the locations announced are large cities such as Glasgow, Nottingham and Wolverhampton, as well as smaller towns including Solihull, Crawley and Barnsley.
In an acceleration of its plans, CityFibre will shortly be awarding more than £1.5bn in network construction contracts for the newly announced full city builds. Awards will be granted by July, enabling the selected partners to secure and mobilise their workforce in preparation for network construction to begin in nearly all the announced cities by the end of 2020.
Scottish government minister for energy, connectivity and the islands Paul Wheelhouse said: “This is very welcome news from CityFibre as it announces further commercial full fibre rollouts in Scotland which complement the Scottish Government’s target of ensuring access to a minimum of superfast broadband for each and every premises in Scotland.”
Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Many Northern Powerhouse towns and cities are set to benefit from this significant investment unlocking fibre to the premises. This digital progress, driven by competition, is a significant step to opening up opportunities for those growing up across the North as well as businesses here already or considering relocating or starting here. Ensuring that unlike the challenges we experience in wider infrastructure like transport, adopting the next industrial revolution will be a transition we can lead to help level up Britain, closing the North – South divide for good.”
New towns and cities announced for full fibre deployment:
• Barnsley
• Bath
• Blackpool
• Bognor Regis
• Bracknell
• Brighton & Hove
• Bury St Edmunds
• Chatham
• Cheltenham
• Chester
• Chichester
• Christchurch
• Crawley
• Dundee
• Eastbourne
• Gateshead
• Gillingham
• Glasgow
• Gloucester
• Halifax
• Horsham
• Littlehampton
• Maidenhead
• Middlesbrough
• Norwich
• Nottingham
• Poole
• Portsmouth
• Preston
• Reading
• Sheffield
• Solihull
• Stoke on Trent
• Weston-super-Mare
• Wolverhampton
• Worcester
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