After nearly four years of work, Bury St Edmunds is now one of the best-connected places in the country, thanks to an £8 million project.

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has completed the primary build of its full-fibre network in Bury St Edmunds. The new network is now ‘ready for service’ for over 16,000 homes, about 81% of residential properties and most businesses in the town. Bury St Edmunds is the latest completed location in CityFibre’s nationwide rollout making it one of the best-connected locations in the country.

Construction on the project began in March 2020 and CityFibre has since laid over 100km of dense full-fibre infrastructure across the town. While the primary build is now completed, CityFibre will continue to explore opportunities to reach further areas including new build properties, those on private or unadopted roads and business parks.

Residents in Bury St Edmunds can now enjoy affordable, gigabit-capable and reliable full fibre broadband from a range of internet service providers (ISPs) including launch partner Vodafone, TalkTalk, Giganet and Zen. CityFibre’s network currently supports download and upload speeds of up to 2.5Gbps and is capable of supporting symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps in the future.

An economic impact report by the consultancy Hatch, commissioned by CityFibre, found Bury St Edmunds stands to experience significant economic, social and environmental benefits from its new digital infrastructure platform, including over £74m in productivity and innovation gains and £16m from a widened workforce over a 15-year period. Enabling 5G rollout alone could drive up to £176m in positive economic impact.  

The completion of the full fibre network follows on from the delivery of a contract for Suffolk County Council to build a Public Service Network connecting numerous public buildings across the town. The network connects more than 600 sites, including Suffolk County Council buildings and schools, as well as West Suffolk Hospital.

Most recently, CityFibre was awarded a £100m contract by BDUK to subsidise its delivery of full fibre infrastructure to 80,000 hard to reach homes across Suffolk. In parallel, CityFibre has committed £74m to reaching a further 56,000 homes in the county.

Neil Madle, Partnership Manager at CityFibre, said: “Today marks a new chapter for Bury St Edmunds as it becomes one of the best-connected places in the country.

“The completion of our primary-build in the town means thousands of residents and businesses can now access full fibre broadband services and enjoy lightning fast and reliable connectivity. This will have far-reaching economic benefits for the local community as our new full fibre infrastructure boosts innovation and productivity.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience over the last three years as we worked our way across the town. Now residents and businesses can reap the rewards of the work. There are a wide range of packages available through Internet Service Providers on the CityFibre network, which can be found by using the postcode checker on our website.”

Jo Churchill MP for Bury St Edmunds added: “The completion of CityFibre’s work rolling out full fibre connectivity in Bury St Edmunds is really welcome. Whilst recognising the disruption this has brought to some areas of the town, the advantages of better connectivity for most residents and businesses will be invaluable. Many thanks to residents for their patience and to CityFibre in completing the work despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. I look forward to continuing to work together as we deliver the ‘hard to reach connections’ out of the town.”

People interested in upgrading their home’s digital connection to full fibre can find out more at www.cityfibre.com/PR.