Telecommunications company CityFibre has appointed a new manager to lead the £100m fibre rollout in Edinburgh.
The company appointed Paul Wakefield as city manager to lead the project in Scotland, replacing Elaine Doherty who was moved to a new role as CityFibre’s head of data insight.
The company is engaged in a five-year project to roll out a new £100m full-fibre network in the hope of making Edinburgh one of best digitally connected cities in the country.
Wakefield will be the main point of contact between stakeholders and the CityFibre team, ensuring the project continues to be implemented with minimal disruption to Edinburgh communities.
He started his career as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police in London.
Wakefield spent almost six years as head of marketing and partnerships at Marketing Edinburgh and was previously director of operations and communications at Scottish Land & Estates and was in charge of marketing at property agency Bell Ingram.
Construction work has already been completed in several areas across Edinburgh, including Restalrig, Liberton, and Inch.
The connections in these areas are being delivered via launch partner Vodafone and TalkTalk is expected to join the network soon.
Work is currently taking place in South Gyle and Carricknowe areas and is being delivered by contractors Glenevin and Topspec.
Paul Wakefield said: “While any project of this scale isn’t without its challenges, the benefits of full fibre are immense and will give Edinburgh the ability to become one of the world’s leading smart cities.
“It is already proving a game-changer for households and businesses who are connected to the network and it’s our mission to ensure that as many people across Edinburgh can access the technology.”
Elaine Doherty, head of data insights at CityFibre, added: “Paul knows Edinburgh inside and out, and has the right skills and experience to drive the project forward for the benefit of households and businesses across the city.
“Our fibre to the premises programme is going to be a game changer in Edinburgh and nobody is better placed than Paul to drive home the message and help people discover more about the impact this investment will have on Edinburgh’s digital future.”
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