TalkTalk Group is going to extend its 1Gbps Ultra Fibre Optic network across the city of York, which would cover more than 40,000 homes in the next 18 months.
The company says that the fibre optic network is enough to cover majority of the town premises.
The York rollout is expected to cost about £20m to TalkTalk and it will funded partly by CityFibre Holdings as a shareholder.
The trial started by TalkTalk Group along with Sky and CityFibre was signed up by over 2400 customers and over14,000 homes in the town, which was launched in the beginning of this year.
TalkTalk claims that customers including residents and business entities have embraced its high speeds Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband services. It says that the infrastructure costs have come down and it wants to extend programme further across the whole town.
With the new service, users can watch HD TV without buffering, play games with people on the other side of the real world and also to enable every member of the family to be online simultaneously.
At present, UK has a penetration rate of 2% for pure fibre optic connections, while at the same time, a European country such as Lithuania has a penetration of 60%. The company says that it is now vital to spread FTTH broadband network across the country.
TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding said: “I have long been convinced that we need to be more ambitious when it comes to the UK’s digital economy, and upgrade our broadband infrastructure once and for all.
“What we are doing here in York is a clear demonstration of our commitment to playing our part in securing connectivity for everyone.”
TalkTalk Group plans to acquire Sky’s equity in the venture and after which Sky will become the long-term wholesale customer.
UK digital minister: We need full fibre to build a digital nation
Minister of State for Digital and Culture Matt Hancock said: “The future is fibre and TalkTalk’s extension of its rollout of full fibre gigabit speeds in York is exactly the kind of thing we want to see industry delivering across the UK.
“We are working to support full fibre roll out by removing barriers and putting the right incentives in place to help cement our role as a digital leader and get the very best broadband to families and business.”
