City of York Council (CYC) is hoping its super-fast broadband infrastructure will help to attract more businesses to the area.

Speaking at this week's government ICT conference, ICT director at the local authority Roy Grant explained the city's fibre optic broadband has sufficient capacity and capability to extend faster speeds to commercial and residential premises, as well as public sector organisations, reports UKauthorITy.

The council, in partnership with Pinacl and CityFibre Holdings, invested in the rollout of a fibre optic-based ring comprising more than 100km of cable, with the network set to connect 110 sites by the middle of this month.

CityFibre built the infrastructure as part of a £13.7 million eight-year managed services contract, which was awarded to Pinacl by the council in 2009.

As a result of the rollout, the local authority can take advantage of faster broadband, as well as video conferencing, advanced telephony and CCTV connectivity.

CYC is hoping the new network will allow it to achieve 95 per cent of its government-set broadband target by the end of 2014-15, providing "real advantages" over the rest of the country.

While the infrastructure is currently being utilised by public bodies in York, Mr Grant insisted the biggest benefits will be felt when it is rolled out to homes and businesses.

"The public sector is just a customer, it kick-starts the project and other investment is found - we do not own or manage it," he explained.

At the same conference, head of corporate development at CityFibre James Enck warned the UK is lagging behind other developed nations as it has so far failed to recognise the numerous benefits of fibre optic broadband connectivity.

He said: "People are asking 'why would anyone possible ever need symmetrical gigabit connection?', when the real question should be, 'if we did have a gigabit symmetrical connection, what would it make possible?'."

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