Fibre Provider's Weekly Update

Fibre Provider enables the spectrum of organisations driving the UK’s fibre rollout to keep up to date with the latest commercial, regulatory and planning news. As part of this mission, our weekly newsletter compiles the top news that broke during the week and brings it straight to your inbox.

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In this week's news...

Fibrus secures ￡100m to reach half a million homes

Fibrus has secured ￡100M in additional funding to complete its fibre rollout to 500,000 homes in Northern Ireland and Cumbria within the next two years.

The package increases its existing ￡200m senior debt facility and ￡20m revolving credit facility.

The amendment to the existing facility was supported by all its existing lenders: UKIB, ING, LBBW, ABN Amro, Natwest and Sabadell.

The ￡320m of committed debt sits alongside around ￡200m in current and committed equity funding and ￡325million of government funding. In total, this amounts to ￡845m

Fibrus currently addresses 315,000 homes, 245,000 through its commercially funded build programme, and a further 70,000 through the Government funded Project Stratum.

In Cumbria, Fibrus has delivered connectivity to over 60,000 homes, which will increase to close to 170,000 within the next two years.

Dominic Kearns , Founder and CEO, said: We are now fully funded for all our existing programmes, and within two years we will have built to half a million properties.”

R100 programme reaches 62,000 properties

More than 62,000 of Scotland’s hardest to connect premises have been addressed by the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% programme, according to a recent Newsletter.?

The ￡600m R100 rollout has delivered to remote and rural properties in over 200 places in the first half of this year, from the Shetland islands of Yell and Whalsay to Stranraer and Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway and across the Atlantic to Argyll’s Isle of Seil.?

Over 5,950 premises in Aberdeenshire and more than 6,500 in the Scottish Borders also have access to fibre through R100 contracts. Builds are also ramping up in Moray and Stirlingshire.?

Openreach is due to start R100 builds in dozens of more places before the end of the year, including the Hebridean island of Mull, Westray and Rousay in Orkney and Kilchoan in the Highlands.?

Fibre Forecast sessions - Autumn programme

Fibreprovider.net are pleased to announce details of our sponsored programme of ‘Fibre Forecasts’, providing fibreprovider.net readers with insights into the challenges, opportunities, strategies, and technologies shaping the UK fibre sector in 2025 and beyond.

These roundtable sessions bring together industry experts to discuss the key issues and innovations driving the UK fibre sector. The insights gained from these discussions form a crucial part of our editorial calendar, appearing on FibreProvider.net, our weekly newsletter, and across social media.

Participants sponsors will have the unique opportunity to showcase their thought leadership and industry expertise.

Fibre Forecast Programme for Autumn 2024

• Assessing Wholesale Model Benefits - Exploring how the wholesale landscape is evolving & how altnets can increase customer take-up by leveraging a balanced wholesale portfolio.
• Evolving Recruitment Priorities- How is the sector finding talent as altnets shift from build engines to sales and marketing organisations? Do skill shortages still plague the sector and how can they be navigated.
• Embedding Efficiency - What partnerships can be leveraged by altnets to build efficiency into their continued build or customer addition processes.

For details on how to participate contact Simon Turton or Heather Miles for details.

Andrews joins G.Network as Chairman

Steve Andrews has joined G.Network Communications as Chairman to signal a new growth phase, with incumbent Ian Gray stepping down.

The change of Chairman follows the refinancing and transformation of the altnet, with Gray stating his goals have been achieved with the company now set for commercial growth. ?

Andrews is a current Non-Executive Director with experience in the TMT industry. He is also a Board Advisor for the Wireless Broadband Alliance in the USA.

Bob Hewson (USS) and Aurelien Roelens (Cube) said: "We would both like to personally thank Ian for his significant contribution as Chairman. He played a critical role in the transformation and refinancing of the company." ?

Ex-Jersey Telecom CEO Graeme Millar will also be joining the Board of G.Network as a Non-Executive Director. He has been an executive in Fixed, Mobile and IoT businesses.

Community Fibre network hits 300k customers

More than 300,000 customers have now signed up to Community Fibre’s network, an 85% increase in the last 12 months.

The altnet’s footprint now passes a total of 1.3m premises, which is over one-third of homes in the capital.

Community Fibre Limited is backed by a finance facility of ￡985m and announced it has been EBITDA positive throughout Q2.

CEO Graeme Oxby , said:?“Having successfully grown to become the largest 100% only full fibre network in London, we’re pleased to announce that more than 300,000 customers have chosen to join Community Fibre.”?

Olaf Swantee, Chairman of Community Fibre,?added:?“The lenders and our shareholders share the view that Community Fibre’s momentum will further strengthen its position as the best and largest FTTH only provider in London.”

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back here next Friday for the latest news update. Be sure to subscribe at the top of this newsletter to get your copy.