Residents, visitors and businesses will soon benefit from faster and more reliable broadband internet as more areas across Greater Brighton.

Brighton & Hove is following Adur, Worthing and Crawley on working with the UK’s leading wholesale fibre network infrastructure firm CityFibre on bringing the world-class digital connectivity to the City Region.

Work is beginning this month on an £80 million rollout of full fibre broadband throughout the city, beginning with Moulsecoomb & Bevendean ward.

This will mean faster and more reliable internet, with connections less prone to slowing down during busy times of the day or when several devices are connected at the same time.

Council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty, who is also a member of the Greater Brighton board, said:

“It’s great news that the city will soon have access to faster, more reliable internet connection speeds. Known as full fibre, this represents real progress not just for our residents but will play an incredibly important part in supporting the local economy as we plan our recovery from the pandemic.

“Working with our partners at the Greater Brighton Economic Board, we have been pushing for faster and better internet connection for a number of years and so this is a significant investment.”

Cityfibre began its investment of at least £25 million in the Worthing and Adur schemes at the start of 2020.

Since then, it has developed a relationship with Crawley Borough Council and started work on a £22 million programme in December.

Cllr Mac Cafferty said:

“We have also seen in the last 12 months that more people are working from home or have developed new ways of working and we would expect that to continue when the pandemic is over, so this is vital for the backbone of our local economy: small businesses, especially the Digital and IT sectors, both of which are thriving in Brighton & Hove. Of course, there are all the home entertainment reasons this is good news for residents too; streaming films and box sets will be made easier.

“While there may be some disruption during installation, we have been assured by the company installing the technology, CityFibre, that this will be kept to a minimum.

“The benefits of ‘full fibre’ will be important for the city’s economy in both the short and long term and we’re looking forward to working with CityFibre on this exciting rollout.”

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