1001 Smart Cities
🇬🇧 London

Connected London Full-Fibre & 5G Programme

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

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A Greater London Authority programme to make London gigabit-ready. Since 2017 its Connected London team has brokered full-fibre agreements with the boroughs — from 2 boroughs and 4% coverage in 2017 to 24 signed agreements and roughly half of homes reachable by early 2023 — and used a £10m Strategic Investment Fund to wire public buildings and street furniture. A parallel 20-year TfL telecoms concession (BAI Communications, now Boldyn Networks, awarded 2021) reuses Underground ducts to build a fibre backbone alongside 4G/5G Tube coverage. City Hall estimates around £1.5bn of infrastructure investment unlocked.

Live 📅 since 2017
Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Officialgrades the sourcing — this entry states no impact figure
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byGreater London Authority (Connected London team) / TfL concession: Boldyn Networks
Scale🏙️ City-wide
📡 Data & IoTConnectivity & 5GDigital government

Sources

↗ TfL — Creating a Connected LondonOperator page for the TfL side: fibre backbone via reused ducts, street assets, 4G/5G Tube coverage. (Live; blocks automated fetch with 403 but confirmed to exist via search.)
↗ Boldyn (BAI Communications) — 20-year Underground concession awardedConfirms June 2021 award, 20-year term, new high-capacity fibre network throughout the Underground, small cells on street assets, neutral-host model.
↗ GLA — Half of London homes now able to access full-fibre (27 Jan 2023)Official progress figures: 4%→50% coverage, 2→24 borough agreements since 2017, ~£1.5bn investment unlocked (City Hall estimate).
↗ GLA — Mayor launches £10m for full-fibre connectivity (24 Oct 2019)£10m Strategic Investment Fund to fund full-fibre to public buildings/street furniture, prioritising boroughs; fibre backbone via TfL tunnels.
↗ RCR Wireless — ITS and Boldyn connect four London boroughs (11 Jun 2025)Currency check: Bromley, Lewisham, Merton, Wandsworth fibre build via TfL asset reuse, GLA Strategic Investment Fund backing — programme still active in 2025.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇺🇸 EPB Gig City — Fiber-Optic Smart Grid & Community Broadband · Chattanooga Two routes to a wired city: Chattanooga's utility laid its own fibre (2010); London brokers borough deals and reuses TfL ducts (2017). 🇮🇪 Smart Docklands · Dublin Neutral-host connectivity in 2017: Dublin ran a 5G testbed in one district; London opened TfL ducts and rooftops citywide. 🇬🇧 TfL Lane Rental Scheme · London Both cut street digging: Connected London threads fibre through existing TfL ducts; Lane Rental's 'Dig Once' makes firms share excavations.

Explore the wider context

🗺️ Your City's Problem Map Is Really a Map of Who Complains📶 Connectivity & 5G guide🏙️ London city profile📡 Data & IoT projects📖 Port community system📖 Terminal operating system (TOS)📖 Civic participation platform
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Connected London Full-Fibre & 5G Programme” — London, United Kingdom. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/london-connected-london/ (last verified 2026-07-25). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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