For many years, businesses across Cardiff have faced an invisible barrier to growth. Poor internet infrastructure, legacy copper networks, and slow or unreliable speeds have quietly stifled innovation, efficiency, and expansion. For a capital city, this digital divide was not just inconvenient – it was holding us back.
But that’s now changing, in a big way.
Thanks to a major public-private initiative led by Elevate, a new full-fibre network is being rolled out across the city, giving Cardiff the infrastructure it has long needed to compete at a national and global level. With funding from Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government, Elevate was chosen to deliver this ambitious £7 million network build, a build that is already transforming the way businesses access and benefit from high-speed connectivity.
This is not just an upgrade. It’s a complete rethink of what’s possible. More than 170km of brand-new fibre infrastructure has been installed, enabling hyperfast, gigabit-level speeds that were previously out of reach for many businesses, especially those stuck on outdated copper lines.
At Flotek, we’re proud to be the first strategic partner appointed by Elevate to support the delivery of this critical infrastructure to businesses across the capital. Having worked with Cardiff-based organisations for more than 20 years we understand both the challenges and the opportunities. We know that speed isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity for modern businesses.
Connectivity underpins everything: cloud services, cybersecurity, remote collaboration, hosted voice, real-time data, AI-enabled tools, the list goes on. Without reliable high-speed internet, none of these services can truly function. And with this new network now live, more than 5,000 Cardiff businesses can access fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and dedicated leased line services that make those services possible.
This isn’t just about faster downloads. It’s about unlocking growth.
It means a growing business no longer has to delay a cloud migration because of bandwidth concerns. It means an SME doesn’t need to think twice about switching to cloud-based communications or expanding its digital tools. And it means local companies can finally access the kinds of resilient, scalable digital infrastructure that used to be reserved for only the largest organisations.
For too long, digital infrastructure in Cardiff has lagged behind the ambition of its businesses. That era is now over. With Elevate laying the foundation and Flotek helping businesses plug in and scale up, Cardiff’s digital future is not just a vision – it’s already under construction.
