CityFibre for Business: Full Fibre Networks Explained

If you are weighing connectivity options, this guide explains what CityFibre is, where it reaches, what it costs, and how it stacks up against Openreach. For the wider picture, see our business broadband options and where a dedicated leased line makes more sense than shared fibre.

What is CityFibre and who can buy it?

CityFibre is a wholesale-only fibre network operator. It builds and runs the physical fibre, but you cannot buy from CityFibre directly — you buy connectivity from an internet service provider (ISP) that sells access over the CityFibre network. ISPs including Vodafone Business, Zen Internet and TalkTalk Business deliver broadband and Ethernet products on it.

Because CityFibre is independent of Openreach, it is a genuine second national fibre network rather than a reseller of someone else's. That matters for business buyers: a second physical network means real price competition and, in covered areas, an alternative if Openreach FTTP has been slow to arrive. The UK government's full fibre and gigabit rollout ambitions are tracked publicly by Ofcom and supported financially through the Project Gigabit programme.

As of 2025–26, CityFibre has built or is building full fibre in over 60 towns and cities across the UK, with a stated ambition to pass eight million premises. Coverage is strongest in mid-sized towns and cities where Openreach's own FTTP rollout came later.

Where is CityFibre available?

CityFibre coverage is not spread evenly. It concentrates in mid-sized cities and large towns that joined the build programme early, and in areas where CityFibre won publicly subsidised contracts. Where Openreach FTTP arrived late, CityFibre often has a first-mover advantage and deep commercial-area coverage.

Towns and cities with strong CityFibre footprints include Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Coventry, Huddersfield and Gloucester. In several of these, CityFibre has reached near-universal coverage across commercial districts.

• Mid-sized UK cities and large towns that adopted the CityFibre build early
• Areas won through government gigabit broadband subsidy schemes
• Locations where Openreach FTTP rollout was delayed, leaving an opening for CityFibre

Rural premises are the gap. CityFibre's focus has been urban and suburban, so for rural sites Openreach FTTP, FTTC, fixed wireless or satellite are usually the realistic options.

What CityFibre business broadband speeds are available?

CityFibre is full fibre end to end — fibre runs from the exchange to your premises, not just to a street cabinet. That removes the distance-from-cabinet speed loss you get with FTTC, so speeds stay consistent through the working day. Exact tiers vary by ISP, but the common business products are:

Full fibre also means lower latency and fewer legacy copper faults, which is why it suits cloud-first businesses running everything through Microsoft 365 and hosted voice.

How much does CityFibre business broadband cost?

Pricing varies by ISP and contract length, but on 24–36 month business terms the indicative monthly costs are below. These are market ranges across ISPs, not AMVIA quotes — your actual price depends on address, contract and ISP.

In many areas CityFibre products price competitively against equivalent Openreach FTTP. The combination of full fibre performance and a second network applying price pressure is why CityFibre has become an attractive option for businesses in covered postcodes. Underspec'd connectivity is a real cost: one in five (20%) UK businesses report broadband speeds that are insufficient for their needs (2025 UK data).

How does CityFibre compare with BT Openreach FTTP?

Both are full fibre networks that run fibre all the way to your premises, so at the top tier both are gigabit-capable. The differences are about footprint, choice and price rather than the underlying technology.

The honest takeaway: in a town where CityFibre is well built, it is frequently the better-value full fibre choice. Nationally, Openreach still reaches more addresses and supports more ISPs. The right answer is address-specific, which is exactly why a coverage check beats assumptions.

Can CityFibre deliver leased lines for business?

Yes. CityFibre infrastructure also underpins dedicated Ethernet circuits in covered areas, and some carriers use its fibre to deliver leased lines that price competitively against incumbents. A leased line gives you an uncontended, symmetric, SLA-backed connection — the step up from shared broadband when uptime is business-critical.

If your site depends on guaranteed bandwidth and rapid fix times, read our explainer on what a leased line is and on dedicated internet access. Where CityFibre fibre is present, an FTTP leased line can be the most cost-effective dedicated option. AMVIA checks CityFibre availability alongside other carriers on every leased line quote we run.

How do you check CityFibre availability?

CityFibre publishes a postcode coverage checker on its own site, but a single-network check only tells you part of the story. AMVIA runs CityFibre, Openreach, Virgin Media Business and leased line carriers in one assessment — one check, complete picture — so you see every option at your address rather than guessing which network to ask first.

This is the AMVIA approach across connectivity, voice and security: one accountable provider, security-first, Microsoft-certified engineers behind it. Your broadband is also part of your attack surface, so the same team that sources your connectivity can harden it.