Need for speed? CityFibre punts 5.5 Gbps symmetrical broadband at ISPs

Altnet claims upgrade puts it ahead of Openreach on performance and cost, with more to come in 2026

Alternative UK network CityFibre has lifted the lid on a 5.5 Gbps wholesale package it says will allow internet service provider (ISP) customers to operate a service more than twice as fast than its current top-speed fiber product.

The biz said its symmetrical 5,500/5,500 Mbps product will be made available "soon" over its entire nationwide network, and promised even faster multi-gig services that it expects to launch in 2026.

CityFibre, which competes with Openreach, the infrastructure arm of BT, claims it currently covers more than 4 million premises and continues to roll out its fiber network with the aim of reaching up to a third of the UK.

The altnet also compares its latest offering against Openreach's fastest available 1.8 Gbps downstream/0.12 Gbps upstream service, claiming it is more than three times as fast and available at a lower cost, although CityFibre declined to disclose pricing, so we can't verify this.

This wholesale product is driven by a 10Gb XGS-PON technology upgrade to CityFibre's network, currently rolled out across 85 percent of it, with full completion scheduled for later this summer. The altnet's ISP customers include Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, and Zen.

UK broadband infrastructure typically lags behind that of many other countries, and CityFibre hopes its latest multi-gig services should help to close the gap with nations such as France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the US, where services providing multiple Gbps to consumers are already available.

Openreach is starting to roll out XGS-PON too, although it is some way behind CityFibre. The incumbent also claimed earlier this year that it has already tested a 50 Gbps fiber broadband connection in the UK, as a first step toward eventual commercial availability, but when that time might come is anyone's guess.

A report published last month said that altnets such as CityFibre are now facing tough competition from the big players in the UK broadband market like Openreach or Virgin Media O2, with consolidation likely in the face of slowing growth in fiber internet uptake. ®