Utilising the 212km full fibre network that is being built across the six local authorities of the city region, LCR Connect provided the digital highway that enabled the successful delivery of the week-long celebration and Saturday’s final.

The grand final was broadcast live from Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena to a global television audience of more than 160 million people, with performances running throughout the week, including fringe events as well as two semi-finals.

LCR Connect is a joint venture between the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, led by Mayor Steve Rotheram, which owns 50% of the venture, alongside ITS, and NGE, who are delivering the network across the Liverpool City Region.

“Staging a global spectacle like the Eurovision Song Contest to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world was a massive triumph for our area – and one that was made possible, in part, by our world-class infrastructure.

“Through LCR Connect, we’re delivering the fastest internet speeds in the country and positioning ourselves at the forefront of the UK’s digital revolution – and stand ready to attract the thousands of well-paid jobs and training opportunities it will bring to our area. We’ve shown the world that nowhere is more capable, or qualified, to host global events than the Liverpool City Region.”

The network, which is on track to be completed this year, is designed to significantly improve connectivity, and will support internet access for businesses and other organisations, making the city region among the best-connected areas of the UK.

Working with the BBC, technology partners and the National Cyber Security Centre, experts from LCR Connect and joint venture partners ITS and NGE provided the design and deployment of the network.

Utilising the ITS Faster Britain full fibre network, the solution ensured Eurovision 2023 was broadcast to the largest global audience in the contest’s history, as well as providing connectivity to the world’s media, audience members and visitors in the city.

Ahead of the event, organisers had been especially alert to a possible cyber-attack after Italian police thwarted attempts by pro-Russian hackers to disrupt last year’s event in Turin, so network security was a central element to this year’s planning.

To ensure resilience, the solution encompassed completely diverse routes from the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool to independent locations in London, where internet traffic was handed off to the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union, allowing the show to be beamed around the world.

And ITS, in partnership with leading security experts NTT, also provided protection for the public facing internet traffic at the arena, defending against distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks, a tactic commonly used by cyber-criminals.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region

“The vision of LCR Connect is to provide a world-leading full fibre network to the City Region, and this weekend that has been in evidence. We were delighted to work with multi-agency colleagues to deliver this event in Liverpool to a global audience.

“Our network and security measures have enabled broadcasters to take this spectacle to its biggest ever audience, providing reliable connectivity to visitors across the city, and contributed to a memorable week of celebrations across the City Region – it really does show the power of connectivity. I would like to thank the technical teams that have enabled such a successful event.”

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS

“Eurovision 2023 has been placed under the sign of unity, which is also one of NGE’s values, demonstrated each day by the work our teams carry out together with the Liverpool City Region and our partner ITS to bring high-speed internet in the region.“We are thrilled to have contributed to the successful delivery of this major European event, with the construction of a reliable and transformative infrastructure for local businesses and communities. A shout out to our Liverpool teams for their commitment.”

Scott Bicknell, UK Managing Director of NGE

The UK’s telecommunications infrastructure is undergoing a once in a generation transformation. As London’s legacy copper networks are set to retire from 2025, the importance of alternative full fibre infrastructure is being brought into sharp focus. 

The real cost of poor broadband

Originally only designed for telephone calls, the first copper networks were installed in the early 20^th century. Since then, the way we access information, collaborate, and communicate has changed substantially. Business applications have moved to the cloud, hybrid working means that many meetings are now held over Teams and Zoom (other conferencing solutions are available), and smart technologies such as IP surveillance and those that use sensors including heating and lighting are all reliant on robust, high-speed connectivity. Our digital dependence is growing.

However, a slow, unreliable broadband service can undermine all the opportunities that these technologies promise – maybe you have experienced the pain of the ‘wheel of doom’, calls dropping in and out, lengthy file upload times, or video conference screen freeze? What is the real cost of poor broadband? The impact of unnecessary end-user frustration created by unreliable services lowers productivity which ultimately hits the bottom line.

The digital revolution

There’s light at the end of this tunnel. Full fibre is being rolled out at pace to replace copper. Known as the gold standard in connectivity terms, it is the future of the UK’s communications infrastructure. Gigabit-capable fibre connectivity is high on the government’s agenda. To bring the UK up to speed, it has targeted 2030 as a timeframe for most of the country to have access to these ultrafast services. This digital infrastructure is being delivered with significant private investment, such as our own multimillion pound rollout across the capital and the rest of the UK, and public funds to level up the areas not included in operators’ plans.

Dispelling fibre myths

Not all fibre connectivity is equal. Fibre to the cabinet, known as FTTC, still relies on copper to connect your premises. While these services are much faster than over a copper-only connection, the service is only as good as the ‘last mile’ from the cabinet to the premises – it’s this part of the line that slows down the service and affects reliability.  

Full fibre means just that. The service is delivered entirely over fibre optic cables, known as FTTP. The only limiting factor is the capabilities of the equipment that is put on the end of the connection and means that full-fibre is truly futureproof.

It’s time to act if you’re still using a ‘landline’ to make phone calls, or are experiencing reliability problems with your connectivity service, you feel like you are having to work around its flaws, and it’s slowing you and your employees down. 

But even if you’re not having any broadband issues, and your connection is fast, you need to know if it’s full-fibre. If it isn’t, you should find out what your service provider’s plans are, particularly if your contract extends beyond the 2025 threshold.

The future’s now

As these full-fibre networks are already built or being rolled out, your rivals may already be benefitting from the competitive edge gigabit-capable services can deliver. Our own investment in our Faster Britain networks already reaches nearly 40% of business premises across London including a footprint spanning East London, which includes Barking & Dagenham, Havering, and Greenwich, and will soon go live across Poplar. 

For more information visit www.fasterbritain.com 

About the author

Imdadur Rahman, a Faster Britain Ambassador from full fibre provider ITS Technology Group, is on a mission to help organisations, institutions, and businesses across the capital learn more about the benefits of transformational digital infrastructure.

The wholesale operator is on track to pass 25% / 500,000 UK businesses (Ordinance Survey OS Open UPRN data set) by the end of this year.

Having recently secured a further £100m from Aviva Investors, ITS continues its multi-million pound Faster Britain rollout at pace, which from the start of the year has now added Burnley, Trafford Park, Wigan, Wilmslow, Handforth, Camden, Enfield, and Mayfair, and extended its Birmingham core network beyond the city centre.

ITS has the capabilities to install ultrafast connectivity to any business in the UK using its own infrastructure or that of its trusted operator partners. By providing open access wholesale networks, ITS’ 300 plus IT reseller, Internet Service Provider, and Managed Service Provider partners can order connectivity solutions for their end-users via ITS’ purpose built self-service partner portal or using the API.

I am delighted that Faster Britain is already making a difference in these towns and cities as businesses switch to services over our independent full fibre networks. We continue to focus on building where there is pent up demand for high quality connectivity.

We have invested heavily in our wholesale provision and delivery capabilities in order to provide the access and infrastructure that makes it easy for our partners to provide connectivity solutions for their customers. We use XGS-PON technology to build and install which means the same connection can scale from basic broadband to a 10Gbps Ethernet leased line

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS

By reusing existing infrastructure to build networks, known as ‘dig once’, ITS minimises the impact on local communities. It can also install customer connections far quicker than the industry norm.

Faster Britain partners can access the entire network footprint as a layer 1 (dark fibre), layer 2 (wholesale), or as a layer 3 (internet) connection. For more information on becoming an ITS partner and joining ITS’ Faster Britain programme visit /become-partner/

• Preston businesses set to become some of the best connected in the UK
• Full fibre gigabit capable network set to go live in Preston at the end of April
• New network also connects the villages and towns between Preston and Blackpool and adds to the extensive network in Blackpool

Businesses in Preston will soon be able to take advantage of gigabit capable connectivity thanks to the town’s new ‘Faster Britain’ full fibre network.

The network – which will go live in April – takes gigabit capable connectivity across the area, with the new full fibre network spanning West from the Ribbleton Park area to the Docklands, through the city centre, from Moor Park through to Deepdale.

The Faster Britain digital infrastructure is powered by alternative network provider ITS Technology Group and is meeting the soaring demand for fast internet connections from the area’s business community.

It also connects Preston to its existing network in Blackpool, providing access for businesses to access the high-speed fibre network along the route including Freckleton, Warton, Lytham and Lytham St Annes.

To date, many businesses in Preston have struggled to access speeds over 70Mbps (source: Fair Internet Report). As part of the go-live, businesses will have access to speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Through its approach to re-using existing infrastructure, Faster Britain builds are deployed faster than the competition by minimising disruption through intrusive, and often prolonged, digs. It also means connectivity can be installed in a matter of weeks, rather than months.

As the Government promises 100% Gigabit capability by 2033 and with its announcement of Project Speed, ITS is playing a key role by building its Faster Britain network across the UK.

“I am excited to launch our new network in Preston, extending our significant presence in West Lancashire. As part of our Faster Britain UK network businesses in Preston will feel the benefit of full fibre. And being part of our programme ensures that Preston exceeds the government’s goals for everyone in the UK to have access to ‘gigabit capable’ connectivity by 2033.

“For the last two years we have been working with councils, local businesses, groups and associations to understand which areas will benefit from full fibre network investment, and I’m delighted we will be switching on Preston in April.

“As the legacy copper-based network becomes obsolete and we move towards its switch off, our mission is to deliver full fibre, gigabit capable connectivity to where it is needed. The pandemic has highlighted just how vital a fast internet connection is to enable people to continue to keep in touch, particularly when circumstances are keeping us apart. Faster Britain is fixing the problem around gigabit capable connectivity which isn’t available to everyone.

“We’re excited to be playing such an integral role in the digital aspirations of businesses across West Lancashire”.

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS

As part of the Faster Britain programme, businesses premises across Preston are able to access a huge range of IT, telephony, gigabit capable broadband and connectivity solutions via ITS’ extensive partner community and are being encouraged to register their interest at www.fasterbritain.com/preston/ or register to be a partner by clicking here