CityFibre is an independent British network provider, providing gigabit-capable FTTP broadband across the UK. It is the third-largest network provider in the UK, after Openreach and Virgin Media. It is sometimes referred to as an "altnet" (alternative network provider), in reference to being an alternative option to Openreach. 

The company has rapidly expanded across the UK, with a focus of expanding high-speed internet access in "second-cities", locations that were otherwise neglected by competitors. Prior to CityFibre's investment, for example, the average internet speed in Milton Keynes was 26.6Mbps, 17.4Mbps lower than the national average.

CityFibre is based in London, and is co-owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding. The company is listed on London's Alternative Investment Market.

Over 35 internet service providers use CityFibre for their network, including Air Broadband, Andrews & Arnold, BrawBand, BrillBand, Facto, FibreHop, Gigabit Networks, Giganet, IDNet, Link Broadband, No One, Octaplus, RunFibre, TalkTalk, Toob, Vodafone, Yayzi, YouFibre, Zen Internet, and Zybre.

History 
CityFibre was founded in 2011. becoming a publicly traded company in 2014.

In 2014, CityFibre entered into a partnership with EE and Three to provide backhaul connections to mobile data masts.

In March 2023, it was reported that City Fibre and Virgin Media were discussing a potential acquisition.

Fibre rollout 
In 2015, CityFibre purchased regional telecoms group Kcom, tripling the size of its high speed fibre network. The following year, CityFibre generated profit for the first time. At the time, its network covered "20% of the UK".

From the early 2020s, CityFibre has been rapidly expanding its access across the UK, with plans to cover one-third of the country with gigabit internet by 2025. In 2022, the company completed successful trials of 2Gbps residential services in York, with further plans to increase speeds up-to 10Gbps using XGS-PON technology.

In November 2022, CityFibre entered into partnership with the internet service provider Toob. In December, CityFibre filed a Competition Act complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom alleging that its competitor, Openreach, had attempted to suppress opposition.

In 2023, CityFibre was awarded £69m in funding from the British governments Project Gigabit initiative, to help in expanding gigabit internet access in rural properties across Cambridgeshire. They also secured funding for expansions into Hampshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk. In January, CityFibre reported that they were building at the rate of 22,000 premises per week, across 75 metropolitan areas, with a 83% increase in their network footprint in 2022.

In May, it was announced that TalkTalk would be using CityFibre networks for its business customers. In June, ISP Yayzi became the first ISP on the CityFibre network to offer up-to 2.5Gpbs to consumers, thanks to the usage of XGS-PON technology. Vodafone had previously offered 2Gbps, however this was on a limited basis for trialling purposes. This offering was expanded in July, when CityFibre announced it was making a 2.5Gbps broadband tier available to all of their retail ISPs.

References

External links  
 

Internet service providers of the United Kingdom
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in London
Telecommunications companies established in 2011
2011 establishments in England