Fibre optic network builder Cityfibre has appointed local man James Cushing to overseen their £40m investment in Northampton, which over the next couple of years aims to cover almost the entire town with a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. At present Cityfibre already has a 45km long Dark Fibre network in Northampton, although it’s currently only used to serve public sector sites and specific businesses. Meanwhile the major rollout extension to local homes and smaller businesses – supported by UK ISP partner Vodafone – is due to begin later this autumn 2019. The new City Manager for Northampton is said to have studied Economics at the University of Northampton and has almost 20 years’ experience working for local government organisations in and around Northamptonshire, where he has led on a range of inward investment, skills and digital projects. Most recently James was also the Head of Delivery for the Government’s Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) programme. Rob Hamlin, Chief Commercial Officer at CityFibre, said: “James will be a fantastic asset to our team, through his extensive local knowledge and experience of leading digital projects he will play a vital role in driving our work in Northampton forward. Our ‘fibre to the premises’ programme is going to be a game changer for both businesses and residents in Northampton. There really is no one better placed than James to help people discover more about the impact this investment will have on Northampton’s digital future.” James Cushing added: “I’m looking forward to working in partnership with stakeholders from across Northampton to ensure that we maximise all opportunities. At the same time, I’m determined to ensure that the local communities are with us every step of the way and understand the difference that gigabit-capable broadband can have now, and in the future.” As usual all of this forms part of Cityfibre’s wider £2.5bn investment (details), which aims to deploy Gigabit capable “full fibre” broadband infrastructure to cover around 1 million premises in 12 UK cities by the end of 2021 (phase one – costing c.£500m), before rising to 5 million premises across 37 cities and towns by the end of 2025.
CityFibre has hired James Cushing as city manager for Northampton. Cushing has nearly 20 years experience working for local government organisations in the region, most recently as head of delivery for the government's Local Full Fibre Network programme. He will oversee CityFibre's £40m ($49m) investment in Northampton, which aims to connect almost the entire city to a 1Gbps-capable FTTP broadband ISP network over the next couple of years.