News
A major increase in funding will see the altnet greatly increase its rollout targets
Today, London-based altnet Community Fibre has announced a major additional investment of £400 million in its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. This new funding will see a major acceleration of its London rollout plans, increasing targets to one million premises by 2023.
This is a serious boost to the company’s previous goals, which targetted 500,000 premises by 2022 using £90 million initial investment.
The cash infusion comes as a direct result of investment firms Warburg Pincus and DTCP acquiring a controlling stake in the business. As part of the deal, ex-EE CEO Olaf Swantee will join the business as Executive Chairman in the coming weeks.
“I am excited to be joining a business in a sector that I am passionate about, where there is a clear vision and purpose. Working alongside blue chip investors such as Warburg Pincus, DTCP, Amber Infrastructure, and RPMI Railpen, will also open up new and exciting growth opportunities,” said Swantee.
To what extent this scaling up of targets will allow the altnet to compete with its larger rivals, Virgin Media and BT, is unclear, though its cheap broadband packages could make it an appealing alternative to these major providers.
Community Fibre also has competition from other growing altnets to worry about. CityFibre recently announced a new plan to generate 10,000 jobs around the country, while Hyperoptic are also still expanding, recently claiming to offer the “UK’s fastest broadband”.
Nonetheless, this major investment from a specialist investment firms is a positive sign that the UK’s fibre ecosystem is still developing in spite of pandemic setbacks.
“We are looking forward to partnering with Community Fibre, together with Warburg Pincus, to support them on their mission to power communities with ultra-fast fibre connectivity across London,” said DTCP CEO Vicente Vento,
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