As the Welsh capital, Cardiff is a city renowned for its culture and heritage, yet more recently, for its position as a leading centre of education and learning. Home to four higher education institutions, the city has a growing student population of over 33,000, and has maintained its status as a popular destination for students for over a hundred years. Additionally, as the administrative and economic centre of Wales, the city has strengthened its position as the country’s commercial hub.
Like other educational and commercial centres, Cardiff has experienced the same issues that arise from having inadequate network provisions as the city continues its growth and development.
With digital virtual teaching and learning methods continuing to characterise the modern student experience, the demands on existing network infrastructure has become huge. Data-intensive activities such as streaming and gaming also exacerbate these pressures, resulting in under-performing networks which can’t support the demand of users.
Challenges Ahead of Cardiff's Fibre City
Cardiff’s position firmly as a commercial and educational hub meant that the city had shared experiences with many other densely populated urban areas - outdated network infrastructure that couldn’t be scaled enough to support demand. Committed to addressing these issues, Glide Group, a market-leader in ultrafast broadband connectivity and fibre, took on the task of helping to revolutionise the Welsh capital’s network infrastructure.
Prior to the installation of its fibre city project, Cardiff’s issues included:
- The city’s network was no longer effective in its response to growing network demands. Cardiff needed a long-term solution that could support the growth of their popular educational facilities.
- As well as university campuses themselves, students opting to live in halls of residence or houses of multiple occupancy (HMO’s) needed access to a reliable network as the days of travelling to campus for every lecture or tutorial are over.
- Cardiff’s existing networks were not scalable, having the potential to reduce the city’s development. Glide’s aim was to grow alongside those customers who are instrumental to regional and national economic growth by ensuring network demands are continuously met, and that they are not hindered by inadequate infrastructure.
Meeting the Demand of Cardiff's Users
Glide’s fibre network is almost complete in Cardiff. So far, the ‘spine’of the intended fibre network route is fully completed, with 6 initial customers of both an educational and commercial nature confirmed and waiting to go live in 2023.
Once the network is live in January, Glide intends on widening its customer base in the Welsh capital, with over 5,000 rooms across 15 Halls of Residence expected to be served by Glide’s ultra-fast network.
Looking Ahead
Glide’s ongoing work in Cardiff is testament to its commitment to supporting areas of key economic influence in the UK, and supporting all customers of both an educational and commercial nature. As livelihoods change and demands of users continue on an upward trajectory, Glide is committed to expanding the resources available to its customer base, ensuring that every city and region across the country has equal access to robust network infrastructure.
