UK based telecoms firms TalkTalk and Sky have teamed up with infrastructure provider CityFibre to build, what is said to be the ultra-fast broadband network, in the City of York.
Challenging BT’s dominance in fixed-line telecoms infrastructure, the latest project leverages CityFibre’s existing metro fibre infrastructure and would deliver broadband speeds of about 1Gbps to York’s homes and businesses upon anticipated completion in 2015.
CityFibre, in collaboration with Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu, will be responsible for deploying the York’s FTTP network.
TalkTalk Group chief executive Dido Harding said the new network will offer significantly higher speeds at much better value than is currently available.
"This marks TalkTalk taking its first steps into investing in building infrastructure as part of our mission to make British homes and businesses better off," Harding said.
Claimed to be the first engineering project to deploy ultra-fast network on a city-wide basis, the first phase involves connecting about 20,000 premises, which represent around 10% of York’s population.
Sky Sales, Marketing and Brand Group managing director Stephen van Rooyen said that increased competition in the broadband market has brought benefits to millions of households who now enjoy better quality and value of service.
"This trial will help us understand the potential for cutting-edge technology to help us give customers an even better quality of service and we’re looking forward to working in partnership with TalkTalk and CityFibre," Rooyen said.
The four companies are also planning to bring ultra-fast broadband to two more UK cities, with the details about the cities to yet to be revealed.
