CityFibre names Hull as next target for fibre roll out

Broadband challenger CityFibre has named Hull as the UK’s next Gigabit City, as the company plans to launch a next-generation pure fibre network in the city.

In partnership with Hull-based telecoms company, Pure Broadband, the CityFibre team aim to provide services to the region which is largely served by one provider. Moneysupermarket.com does not currently list any broadband deals available in the Hull area, instead stating ‘the Hull region is served almost entirely by Kingston Communications (KC).’ The network, which spans 62km across Hull, will not only increase competition in the region, but also offer consumers and businesses access to ultra-fast internet services in a region which is believed to have some of the slowest broadband speeds in the UK.

“We’re delighted to be able to offer world-class digital infrastructure to cities like Hull, who have historically had extremely slow broadband speeds,” said Rob Hamlin, Commercial Director at CityFibre. “By working with Pure Broadband, businesses in Hull can now capitalise on gigabit speed internet connectivity to compete and succeed in a digital world.”

The Gigabit City initiative is one of the more prominent campaigns in the CityFibre arsenal, billed as a campaign to bring the benefits of Gigabit speed connectivity to new cities throughout the UK. The team has already launched the initiative to bring to bring pure fibre infrastructure to a number of other cities including Peterborough, Coventry, York, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Customers in Hull have been subjected to slow broadband speeds for some time, as the city regularly comes in the lower rankings in comparison to the rest of the UK. Back in April, price comparison service uSwitch published a list of the speeds actually achievable in 42 towns and cities throughout the UK, with Hull coming in last place, averaging 12.42 Mbps between 9 Aug 2015 and 8 Feb 2016. In comparison, Middlesbrough was the fastest city averaging 34.46 Mbps, almost three times as fast as Hull.

“Pure Broadband has operated in Hull since 2009 and our mission is to provide our customers with exceptional service levels and cost effective, reliable products,” said Adrian Bolster, MD of Pure Broadband. “Our new gigabit, fibre only products are driven by our passion for our city and our belief that Hull businesses deserve the best.

“We’re extremely happy that CityFibre has chosen us as their launch partner in the city and look forward to delivering a range of fibre fed products which will finally put Hull on the map as a true digital city. The key message from Pure is that this is here, now, it is time for Hull to join the Gigabit revolution”