A London-headquartered company that builds and runs the UK's largest open-access full fibre network, which internet providers such as Vodafone, TalkTalk and Zen use to serve homes and businesses.
CityFibre builds and operates full fibre broadband networks, which means glass fibre cables that run all the way into homes and businesses instead of using old copper lines for the last stretch. On its own website it calls itself the UK's largest open access, full fibre network operator. Open access means CityFibre does not sell broadband to households itself in the main. Instead, it lets many different broadband providers sell packages over its cables. Its about page says it works with more than 30 providers, and a 2024 profile on Wikipedia lists names such as Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet and toob among them. Sky is also described as joining the network.
The company was founded in 2011, and Wikipedia credits Greg Mesch, its chief executive, as founder. CityFibre says it was set up to "set a new standard in our industry" and to "bring much-needed choice to the market", with the aim of unlocking the digital potential of communities across the UK. In a 2021 article, Mr Mesch wrote that the company wants to build a world-class digital infrastructure platform where customer experience is the main measure of success, and that it is building a brand-new network from scratch with no old copper or coaxial cable to maintain. The website also stresses getting work right first time for people and planet, and says it has a net zero strategy and chooses power-efficient equipment.
CityFibre's registered office and head office is at 15 Bedford Street in London, and the pages we read did not list other offices. Its work, though, is spread across the country. The company has said it focuses on second-tier cities that bigger rivals largely ignored, such as Milton Keynes and Peterborough, trialled 2 Gbit/s home broadband in York, completed a build in Bury St Edmunds, and works on government-backed Project Gigabit areas in Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. A site footer in 2021 spoke of network projects in more than 60 cities. In 2024 it took full ownership of Lit Fibre, which added roughly 20 towns. Figures like these change quickly, so check the website for the current picture.
On culture, the company's careers pages link to a set of working principles it calls "The CityFibre Way", plus diversity and inclusion and benefits pages, but we could not read their contents, so we cannot describe them. Wikipedia reports about 1,900 employees in 2023, after a restructuring, which is an older figure. Building a national network is a huge team effort, with design planners, civil engineering and construction managers who oversee contractors digging streets, field engineers, and customer, finance, legal and technology staff.
Roles can include network designers who plan routes, project managers, field and customer engineers, and people who work with councils and internet providers. Engineering, geography, computing and business subjects all lead towards this kind of work.
Website: cityfibre.com
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