CityFibre and Fujitsu partner for fibre optic network rollouts

CityFibre Holdings has announced an agreement with Fujitsu that will see the two firms progress plans to roll out pure fibre optic broadband infrastructure throughout the country's "second-tier cities".

The proposals will involve the deployment of fibre optic cables capable of delivering speeds of up to 1Gbps to more than one million homes and over 50,000 businesses.

Worth an initial £50 million in estimated value to Fujitsu, the contract will see the company given responsibility for planning, building and operating the next-generation networks.

It is hoped that the Japanese technology equipment giant's scale and experience will help to accelerate the rollout and boost the confidence of customers, investors and partners.

Fujitsu and CityFibre have previously collaborated on the deployment of a 103km fibre optic "ring" network around York.

At the end of March, the infrastructure had already been extended to 110 sites in the city, including council buildings, schools and York NHS.

CityFibre and the city council are now planning to use the existing infrastructure to deliver pure fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) solutions to properties in the area.

Commenting on the link-up with Fujitsu, CityFibre chief executive Greg Mesch said having an outsourcing partner with such a strong reputation would prove "invaluable" to the rollout.

"Fujitsu's credentials in network deployment could not be stronger and few companies have as much knowledge of UK telecoms infrastructure," he remarked.

Mr Mesch claimed Fujitsu is "uniquely positioned" to assist CityFibre in achieving its ambitious targets for the network, including metro networks, FTTP and mobile backhaul.

Chief executive of Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Andy Stevenson said the firm was "very happy" to seal the agreement with CityFibre.

"This project takes advantage of all Fujitsu's core competencies including planning, building and operating next-generation access networks across the world. We are excited by the opportunity to work with such a forward-thinking company," he added.