Stoke-on-Trent City Council has partnered with a Swedish tech company to roll out Gigabit full fibre connectivity to residents and businesses.

The council is working with VXFIBER in order to move the city towards becoming a smart, sustainable ‘Gigabit city’.

Cllr Abi Brown, deputy leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said that while the city had some of the fastest average 4G mobile download speeds in the country, the part copper based broadband offering currently available cannot keep up with connectivity demands.

‘Full fibre Gigabit connectivity addresses these needs and is the cornerstone of our vision for the future growth and prosperity of our city and its residents and businesses,’ she said.

‘VXFIBER is playing a significant role in realising this vision in a way that’s practical, affordable and flexible, to adapt and grow alongside our city and its connectivity needs.’

Under the scheme, the council will retain complete ownership of the city ring fibre network: it already owns the main ducts across the city and will utilise these to connect all parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

VXFIBER will ‘light up’ the fibre and supply the platform for operators and service providers to build and launch their own services to run over the network.

The platform will enable the council to monetise its infrastructure and receive a return on its investment in a completely open access ecosystem where all service providers are welcome to deliver their services.

VXFIBER executive chairman, Mikael Sandberg, added: ‘By investing in and installing Gigabit-speed fibre themselves, local authorities and councils can take charge of their community’s “digital destiny”, without having to rely on third party telecom operators or ISPs.’

‘Councils can reap the economic and social benefits of full fibre Gigabit connectivity in a way that’s affordable and future-proof.'