CityFibre is making strides in a £40m project to roll out faster internet.

The investment in Medway will see full fibre broadband across the Towns, with works already well underway in Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham, and sights set on further rollout in Strood and part of Hoo.

The company, which is the UK's largest open access fibre only operator, builds fibre tracks in entire towns and cities which providers then use to give internet to customers, including homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and GP surgeries.

Broadband types include ADSL, which uses copper wires connections, fibre, which uses a combination of copper and fibre connections, and full fibre, which uses no copper wires at all.

Full fibre, which the company is rolling out across Medway, is not only significantly faster, but also safer, more environmentally friendly, and more reliable – meaning the connection is less likely to cut out.

CityFibre works with internet service providers (ISPs) including Vodafone, TalkTalk, Three, Zen, and 32 local and regional ISPs.

It serves more than two million premises, and by 2025 it hopes to serve one third of the UK – amounting to up to eight million homes, 800k businesses, 400 local authority sites and 250k 5G access points.

Area manager for Medway, Anne Krausse, described the infrastructure as "future-proof".

She added: "We're not here to tear open the streets. It's better to be in and out as fast as possible.

"We want to leave behind a legacy. If there's one message we'd like to leave residents, it is to thank you for bearing with us.

"We're not here to annoy you, we want to leave you with something really good."

The company uses "hybrid building", sharing existing infrastructure with OpenReach and using tracks already placed by other companies where possible, so fewer roads will need to be dug up.

With the recent transition to working from home and hybrid working for many, more and more households and businesses across the UK require faster broadband than what is readily available, making CityFibre's work all the more important.

Anne continued: "We get complaints from residents asking, when will we be here? There's an appetite for it.

"We're forward-looking, looking to get as many homes as possible connected. Not everyone needs fibre broadband but people increasingly do.

"We see it as short-term pain, long-term gain. We know it is disruptive, so we thank the residents for their patience. We are here to invest long-term in Medway."

Ben Englefield, city build manager at CityFibre, added: "Residents would rather we just finish the work but it's not that straight-forward.

"A lot of Medway is overbuilt, the roads are littered with utilities, so things take longer as we don't always know what's going to be there until we open up the road."

A study of the potential impact of the project over the next 15 years, carried out by consulting company Hatch, estimates that it will boost Medway's economy by more than £990m.

It suggests the boost will come from a widened workforce, increased housing value, better productivity and innovation from the increase in flexible working, and local authority efficiency savings.

The network construction will also create more than 150 jobs within CityFibre's build partners and supply chain, most of which will be recruited locally.

Anne Krausse said: “These figures demonstrate just how impactful full fibre is for Medway. Our network will ensure the area is ready to thrive in the digital age and provide a platform for innovation and investment.

"We cannot wait for the local communities to reap the many benefits of our £40m digital transformation project.”

Cllr Alan Jarrett, Leader of Medway Council, added: “We’re delighted to learn of the benefits that CityFibre’s investment is bringing to Chatham and Gillingham as a result of its full fibre network rollout.

"Digital connectivity is very important and will allow local businesses to boost productivity with buffer-free calls and fast download speeds, which will support economic growth, help businesses thrive and provide huge benefits to residents in terms of their connectivity.”