CityFibre brings Gigabit City vision to Edinburgh

CITYFIBRE INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS PLC

('CityFibre' or the 'Group' or the 'Company')

CityFibre brings Gigabit City vision to Edinburgh

CityFibre (AIM: CFHL), a leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with leading Scottish network service provider, Commsworld, for the first phase of deployment of pure fibre network infrastructure in Edinburgh.

The initial 50km, of an anticipated 150km build, is backed by a contractual commitment from Commsworld to migrate a significant proportion of its large existing base of business customers onto CityFibre's new fit-for-purpose infrastructure. As in all its previously announced projects, the Total Contract Value ("TCV") to capex coverage ratio during the build is anticipated to be well within the Company's previously stated range.

The initial new network deployment will bring gigabit connectivity to within reach of an estimated 7,000 businesses, and establishes Edinburgh as CityFibre's next Gigabit City project.

Construction will commence this summer, and initial planning is already underway. As with CityFibre's other Gigabit City projects in Coventry, Peterborough, York and Aberdeen, the network will be deployed in-line with the company's "Well Planned City" design philosophy. This highly-sophisticated planning approach optimises network design and deployment to accommodate current and future capacity requirements from all aspects of a city's community under a shared infrastructure model.

Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer of CityFibre, commented:

"CityFibre has gathered considerable pace in the last 12 months and we are delighted to be embarking on our biggest Gigabit City project yet, which underlines the scale of our ambition. With thriving financial, tech and media sectors, Edinburgh's businesses are poised to take advantage of a digital head-start, providing them with a competitive advantage at home and abroad. We are seeing huge demand for ultra-fast connectivity and as we continue this shift from manufacturing to service based economies, a modern digital infrastructure could not be more critical to a city's success.

"Commsworld is a perfect partner with which to transform Edinburgh's digital landscape and we look forward to demonstrating the capabilities and contribution of next generation infrastructure to both the public and private sectors."

Richard Nicol, Chief Executive Officer of Commsworld, commented:

"As a company constantly looking for new ways of improving communication solutions for businesses, we are hugely excited to have partnered with CityFibre to bring the benefits of pure fibre connectivity to our customers and to the City of Edinburgh as a whole. Ultra-fast, gigabit connectivity appeals hugely to digitally dependant businesses and this is only going to grow with time. It will soon become the standard, driving productivity, innovation and the bottom line."

John Sweeney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, said:

"I am delighted to welcome CityFibre's substantial investment in Edinburgh's digital infrastructure. The future-proofed fibre infrastructure that will be delivered, alongside CityFibre's recently announced investment in Aberdeen, will make a key contribution to our vision of Scotland having world class digital connectivity by 2020.

"CityFibre's partnership with Commsworld, a respected and established Scottish digital business, will support the growth of Edinburgh's thriving business community as well as other bandwidth hungry organisations in the city. Over time, this future-proof infrastructure will support the roll-out of ultra-fast Fibre-to-the-Premises services for residential customers as well as 4G and 5G services. 

"As Scotland's largest Gigabit City, Edinburgh will have a unique selling point as one of the foremost digitally connected locations anywhere in Europe and we are delighted to see CityFibre continue its investment in Scotland."

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About CityFibre:

CityFibre enables gigabit connectivity through designing, building, owning, and operating fibre optic network infrastructure. It is the largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure to mid-sized cities and major towns across the UK, providing gigabit-capable infrastructure for enterprise and public sector organisations, service providers, mobile network operators and businesses.

The Company owns and operates 490 route kilometres of local access networks serving over 800 customer locations in 60 towns and cities in the UK, including York, Coventry, Peterborough, Huddersfield, Hull, Sheffield, Newcastle, Dundee, Bath, Derby and Doncaster.

To date the Company has launched four Gigabit City projects in York, Peterborough, Coventry and Aberdeen, where city-wide pure fibre networks known as 'COREs' bring world-class Internet connectivity and the benefits of gigabit speeds to every aspect of the city's community. The CityFibre COREs are deployed using the Company's Well Planned City (WPC) design philosophy, in which its city-wide core fibre infrastructure is designed with thousand-strand fibre cables in dual ducts optimally routed to serve the present and future demand of the public sector, mobile base stations, business park estates, and ultimately designed to serve as feeder and distribution network for Fibre-to-the- Home deployments.

CityFibre is also a proud member of a joint venture with TalkTalk and Sky. Established in early 2014, the collaboration aims to prove the viability of gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks and services for homes and businesses. Work is currently underway to connect tens of thousands of homes and businesses in York to a future-proof FTTP modern digital infrastructure.

CityFibre is based in London, United Kingdom, and its shares trade on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: CFHL).

To find out more, please visit: www.cityfibre.com