SCOTLAND’S capital city is to see its digital infrastructure transformed by an ultra-fast, pure fibre network that will provide gigabit speeds up to 100 times faster than the UK’s average.

Infrastructure provider CityFibre will build a 150km network in Edinburgh. The project, CityFibre’s largest “Gigabit City” investment and its second in Scotland, has been made possible by a partnership with Commsworld, a leading Edinburgh-based network service provider with a 20-year history.

The city-wide fibre network will provide Edinburgh with gigabit speed, world-class connectivity – a stated aim of the Scottish Government.

It is estimated the first phase of deployment, 50km of network focused on central Edinburgh, will bring gigabit speeds up to 100 times faster than the UK’s average within reach of over 7,000 businesses.

Ultimately, the network could form a backbone for a future deployment of a gigabit-capable fibre to the home access network.

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: “We are seeing huge demand for ultra-fast connectivity and as we continue this shift to service-based economies, a modern digital infrastructure could not be more critical to a city’s success.

Commsworld’s CEO Richard Nicol said: “As Scotland ’s largest ‘ Gigabit City ’, Edinburgh will have a unique selling point as one of the foremost digitally connected locations anywhere in Europe, and we are delighted to see CityFibre continue its investment in Scotland.”