INTERVIEW
The country needs full fi bre
Even before the coronavirus crisis, CityFibre was committed to working with the UK government to realise bold
ambitions of widespread full fi bre coverage by 2025. That need has been amplifi ed by the lockdowns put in place
to contain the spread of the virus. We caught up with Andy Wilson, Head of Wholesale at CityFibre, to fi nd out more
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): How has Covid-19
impacted the fi bre rollout?
Andy Wilson (AW):
“ roughout the last few
months, at the request of
the Government, we have
continued to build and install
full bre infrastructure which
is absolutely critical in allowing
society to function and our
economy to recover. Our eldbased
sta and contractors have
been designated as ‘key workers’
and despite the gradual easing
of lockdown restrictions, they
continue to adhere to strict
protocols on social distancing.
CBM: Can UK providers keep
pace with the new levels of
demand on the network?
AW: “Before the pandemic, the
critical importance of building
full bre infrastructure in
the UK had been made clear
when the Prime Minister
made the pre-election pledge
of nationwide deployment
by 2025. In recent months,
the country has never been
more acutely aware of just
how important connectivity
is in underpinning our day to
day lives and how much the
country needs full bre.
“ is will give even greater
impetus for everyone in our
sector to ensure they double
down on their e orts to make
the Government’s target
happen. is critical initiative
will underpin Britain’s longterm
the valuable feedback of our
economic recovery from
own teams and partners to
re-evaluate our plans and focus
for 2020.
“Within our wholesale team
one of the ways we’ve adapted
our plans with partners is in
helping them to identify new
ways to champion themselves
and their CityFibre o ering to
new and existing customers. is
has yielded tremendous results
and seen sales almost back to
pre-lockdown numbers.”
CBM: Have customer
priorities changed?
AW: “Covid has only increased
customer demand for stability
and consistent performance
from their connection. In the
new, more exible, working
environment that is now
being adopted, businesses
need good upstream speeds
for applications like Zoom or
Teams to work e ciently.
“Asymmetric connections
can’t deliver the consistent
and reliable bandwidth they
need. e key requirement is
the need for greater exibility,
both technologically and
commercially. From a technical
perspective, CityFibre delivers
greater exibility through
innovative products like
Ethernet Flex 1G, which
provides 200Mbps bandwidth
as standard with an option to
burst to 1Gbps as and when
needed at no extra cost and
Andy Wilson, Head of Wholesale at CityFibre with n o prior requests – peace
the Coronavirus crisis, helping
to level-up the economy by
enabling access to ultra-fast
digital connectivity for all.
“ e good news is CityFibre
is all about building a network
for the Gigabit age. Our full
bre infrastructure is enabling
businesses to future-proof
themselves and ensure that
generations to come will not
need to worry about meeting
any increase in demand for
digital services.”
CBM: Has CityFibre’s strategy
changed because of COVID?
AW: “ e events of 2020
have only served to accelerate
CityFibre’s determination,
ambition and plans to provide
full bre infrastructure to the
UK and reinforce the critical
nature of our up to £4 billion
Gigabit City Investment
Programme to deliver full bre
to up to eight million premises
in over 100 towns and cities,
which will be substantially
completed by 2025.
“ roughout the coronavirus
crisis we’ve kept our nger
on the pulse of what business
leaders are saying regarding the
health of the economy, using
expert insight from leading
business consultancy rms
to model what the road to
recovery might look like. Just
like all responsible businesses,
we have used this insight and
10 | Road to Full Fibre 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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