Aberdeen is set to become Scotland’s most connected city thanks to the construction of a new superfast city-wide fibre network.

The city has been chosen by infrastructure provider CityFibre to be Scotland’s first "Gigabit City", with a new superfast 1GB network aiming to be completed by Christmas.

The new network is thanks to a partnership between CityFibre and Scottish ICT service provider Internet For Business (IFB) as part of a multi-million pound investment in Aberdeen, which houses 30% of Scotland’s top 100 businesses and contributes 28% of the country’s GDP.

"We selected Aberdeen as it represents the perfect opportunity for a Gigabit City project," said CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch. "Its economic power, business makeup and absence of alternative network mean that Aberdeen will be in a position to take full advantage of this transformational digital infrastructure."

"CityFibre is honoured to be able to add to the proud history of this city by building a modern digital infrastructure that will future proof Aberdeen, its businesses and residents for the next 100 years."

Planning for the network’s deployment is already underway and will initially focus on the centre and south of the city, home to many of its largest businesses, including several key oil and gas companies.

Graeme Gordon, CEO of IFB, commented: "We know how important connectivity services are to businesses in Aberdeen as there is always an increasing demand for more bandwidth. This new fibre network will provide a long-term foundation for businesses’ digital requirements, sending a signal to businesses that Aberdeen is a city with room to grow and progress, and providing future investors confidence in the services that the city can offer."

CityFibre, which recently announced it had raised £30m in funding to extend its network across the UK, offers its infrastructure as an alternative to BT. It has already signed partnership deals with Sky and TalkTalk to rollout FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) networks in York and Peterborough as well as acquiring a council-owned fibre network in Coventry.