Doncaster to become a 'Gigabit City' after investment from broadband firm

London-based CityFibre has added the borough to its network of places it operates in as part of their £2.5bn investment covering 20 per cent of the UK.

Coun Jane Nightingale, cabinet member for customer and corporate services, made the announcement at a meeting of the full council.

The coverage is expected to begin later this year.

“Light tasks which take minutes will soon become seconds,” Coun Nightingale said.

“The council continues to seek investment to increase as much coverage to the borough as possible.”

Doncaster joins Batley, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Inverness, Ipswich, Leicester, Lowestoft, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Rotherham, Slough, Swindon and Worthing.

Services are also all 5G compatible.

CityFibre said it will ‘continue to work closely’ with each local authority to facilitate and accelerate the rollouts and to determine the sequence of towns and cities deployed.

On completion, CityFibre said the total economic impact of full fibre in these locations alone could exceed £16.3bn, creating over 115,000 indirect jobs.

CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “ Our sole purpose is to deliver the future-proof digital infrastructure the UK deserves.

"With a new Prime Minister set to increase government’s ambitions for the pace of full fibre rollout, we are delighted to welcome another 14 towns and cities to our Gigabit City Club.

"These Gigabit Cities will not only gain new full fibre networks that will spark their digital transformation, but also unleash the benefits that only competitive infrastructure investment can bring.”