THE boss of the company that has taken control of controversial Fibre City has pledged to sort out all unfinished work on Bournemouth’s streets.
The firm was launched in a blaze of publicity promising to make the resort the UK’s first “fibre optic city.”
But work on laying superfast broadband cables across the borough ground to a halt when Fibre City ran into financial problems, leaving residents, subcontractors and council bosses angry and frustrated and numerous roads in a mess.
Now Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre Holdings which acquired the troubled firm, says it has been restructured and work can begin again.
However no date has yet been given for a return.
Mr Mesch said: “We will soon start making good the works left unfinished by our predecessors in Bournemouth.
“We will begin by repairing the network, adding service providers and activating customers – we already have 20,000 homes that are or can be connected to superfast fibre in the town.”
He admitted: “The last few months have been very difficult for all those affected.”
Bournemouth council leaders summoned Fibre City directors to an emergency summit in January to urge a restart and repair of 107 partly dug roads in Boscombe, Winton and Moordown.
At the time contractors told the Echo not enough people were signing up and a leaked council email said subcontracted firms were still owed money.
The Fibre City Holdings was bought by a consortium led by Mr Mesch, from parent company i3Group, along with H2O Networks and Opencity Media.
Mr Mesch is the former president and chief operating officer of i3 Group.
Bournemouth Council leader, Cllr Peter Charon, said: “The sooner they come back, the better. I know residents have been very concerned.
“The council has been working hard to get them to come back to see the work get done and all that investment we want to see happen should take place as soon as possible.”
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