The UK could gain access to more than £38 billion in economic benefits through its UAE-backed Full Fibre roll-out, a report has shown.
The report by consultancy firm Hatch says CityFibre's continuing roll-out across the UK will bring billions into the economy over a 15-year period and support the government's nationwide levelling-up programme.
It says the initiative will unlock economic growth and reduce the digital divide in different areas of the country that currently experience vast differences in both coverage and service quality.
CityFibre is rolling out its Full Fibre infrastructure in 285 cities, towns and villages in England and Scotland.
The London-based company, which launched over a decade ago, has networks in more than 60 towns and cities.
Its full-fibre networks run fibre optic connections directly from an exchange to homes, allowing for much faster transmission speeds.
Last September, it attracted significant investment from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, one of the world’s leading sovereign investors, and Interogo Holding, an investment group.
The financing, which was the largest capital raise dedicated to full fibre deployment in the UK, is supporting and accelerating CityFibre’s roll-out to a third of the UK market by 2025.
The UK's UAE embassy has welcomed the move.
“With @Mubadala support, @CityFibre, the UK's largest independent Full Fibre programme, is unlocking economic growth for communities across the UK. [UAE] investment in [the UK] is helping to boost tech innovation and will drive positive social and economic benefits in the years to come,” it tweeted.
CityFibre, the brainchild of broadband guru Greg Mesch, is now the UK’s third largest national digital infrastructure platform, behind long-established companies BT and Virgin Media.
“This report demonstrates just how powerful a tool Full Fibre is in levelling up the UK,” Greg Mesch, chief executive at CityFibre, said.
“Digital infrastructure competition is driving billions of pounds of private investment from incumbents and challengers and every pound spent is unlocking economic growth, new jobs and more efficient public services in some of the most deprived parts of the country.
“We’re delighted to see the impact of our contribution and we look forward to playing an ever-larger role in future.”
The report, “Economic Impact of Full Fibre Infrastructure from CityFibre’s Network”, commissioned by CityFibre, says productivity improvements and innovation are responsible for the largest impact, driving more than £22bn in gross value added gains nationwide.
“This is due to the positive effect that far faster and more reliable digital connectivity has been shown to have on business productivity and innovation, increasing turnover and contributing to the formation of new businesses and business models,” it said.
“The continuing transition to home and flexible working, supported by Full Fibre access at home and in the office, coupled with advances in the development of e-recruitment software, contribute to businesses being able to exercise greater choice from a larger pool of labour.”
It says the widening of the workforce is expected to unleash £4.8bn while flexible working productivity uplifts are estimated to exceed £1.2bn.
The report also identified up to £15bn added to the value of homes reached by the new networks.
The north of England is identified as the region that stands to be the biggest beneficiary of the project, with the roll-out spanning more than 100 locations across the north-east, the north-west and Yorkshire.
Hatch estimates the positive impacts on the north of the country include £8bn in productivity and innovation gains, £1.5bn from a widened workforce, £410 million in local authority efficiency savings and £4bn in increased house value.
“This report from CityFibre highlights the huge productivity boost Full Fibre can give the economy and is a critical part of levelling up, with the north of England standing to benefit the most from private led investment,” said Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
“It is now the role of government to make sure that any public investment maximises what can be achieved through piggybacking on these benefits derived from effective competition.”
CityFibre’s rise has been helped by the UK government’s ambition to boost the economy through superfast broadband access.
Its attraction is offering superfast broadband directly to homes and businesses, instead of using fast fibre to connect to a street’s exchange and then switching to slower copper cabling when delivering it to properties.
At present, full-fibre broadband is available in only 14 per cent of UK homes, compared with 80 per cent in countries such as Japan.
CityFibre now has network roll-outs under way that will give eight million homes, 800,000 businesses, 400,000 public sector sites and 250,000 5G mobile sites access to full fibre by 2025.
