Sky and TalkTalk have announced that they have joined forces with CityFibre to create a new company that will deliver “ultra-fast” broadband in York, with a further two cities expected to receive the service in due course.
In what is to become the first time that a UK city has been connected with such high speeds on a city-wide basis, the joint venture plans to build a “state of the art, city-wide, pure fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) network” to deliver broadband speeds of one gigabit direct to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
Leveraging CityFibre’s existing infrastructure in York, the roll-out is expected to give Sky, TalkTalk and CityFibre the opportunity to test a new “cost effective” approach to building a viable pure fibre network, independent from BT Openreach’s infrastructure.
Once the new network is in place, Sky and TalkTalk will retail competing broadband services over the new infrastructure, with the first customers expected to be connected in 2015.
“TalkTalk has a long history and proven track record of disrupting new markets, and this is the next step in that journey,” said Dido Harding, chief executive of TalkTalk Group.
“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.”
Stephen van Rooyen, managing director of Sky’s sales, marketing and brand group, added: “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.”
Full details regarding customer propositions and pricing are yet to be confirmed.
