Bringing dark fibre to Newport

Regeneration has been an overarching priority for the Welsh city of Newport for several years. And as well as initiating major business, retail and housing developments, Newport City Council recognised the importance of reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi networks in channelling the city’s potential.

North has played a key role in advancing those ambitions by designing, installing and managing a dark fibre network across parts of the city. The network consists of over 14km of resilient fibre connecting core Council buildings such as the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, the Riverfront Theatre, Fourteen Locks Canal Centre, Belle Vue Park Pavilion, Newport Market and Mansion House – around 50 publicly accessible sites in all. The project also provides resilient connectivity to Newport’s Next Generation Data Centre, the largest data centre in Europe.

Providing a future-proofed networking environment for the city, the dark fibre network delivers much improved high-speed access for both the council and local businesses, and supports Newport’s inward investment drive. It also has an important social inclusion element, providing high-speed access to deprived communities, and is being used to support North’s free public Wi-Fi service in the city centre.

The network was installed in just six months – meeting a challenging schedule, and we continue to maintain the network today. The core infrastructure is scalable to match demand and will enable the council to make significant cost savings over the long term. Our solutions continue to push Newport forward as a great place to live, work and do business.