Edinburgh council sites set for £5.6m fibre upgrade

Almost 300 council-owned sites in Edinburgh are to receive an upgrade to their broadband connection under a deal with infrastructure owner CityFibre.

Ricky Nicol said Edinburgh will be one of the world's best-connected cities

The agreement is worth at least £5.6 million and the Aim-quoted firm said the work will be carried out with Edinburgh-based telecoms company Commsworld, replacing the “expensive, capacity-constrained copper circuits” provided by BT.

The contract – an extension to CityFibre’s existing “gigabit city” high-speed internet project in Edinburgh – is part of a wider £186m outsourced IT procurement deal for the council won by CGI, which will create the single largest pure fibre city roll-out in the UK.

Key sites to benefit from the investment will include council offices, community centres and libraries. Some 137 primary and secondary schools will also benefit from increased connection speeds.

Commsworld chief executive Ricky Nicol said: “The reach and benefits of this network will have a hugely positive impact on Edinburgh as a whole but this would not be possible without CityFibre’s investment in the fibre infrastructure that will allow Edinburgh to become one of the best connected cities in the world.”