This week in the ICT Channel

Every friday morning, Comms Dealer magazine rounds up the top channel news that broke during the week.

In this week's news...

TalkTalk Wholesale Services rebrands as PlatformX Communications

TalkTalk Wholesale Services has rebranded as PlatformX Communications (PXC) with a promise to challenge the status quo in the wholesale connectivity market.

PXC was born from the combination of Virtual1 and TalkTalk Wholesale Services the national network business and will be led by CEO Tom O'Hagan .

The company is purely wholesale and will offer customers access to its Tier 1 national network covering 98% of UK premises.

Its product portfolio is accessible via its software platform 1Portal.

O’Hagan said: “The launch of our new company and our new brand underlines our ambition to offer genuine choice to the wholesale market and builds on more than 20 years of dedicated investment and expertise developed through TalkTalk and Virtual1.

“We firmly believe that competition and innovation are essential to market growth, and that doing things differently requires players like us, with an appetite for developing new approaches and challenging the status quo.”

CityFibre kicks off acquisition spree with Lit Fibre deal

CityFibre is to boost its roll out by up to 300,000 premises through the acquisition of fibre network operator Lit Fibre from Newlight Partners . The share-based acquisition will see Newlight Partners become minority shareholders in CityFibre and the deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.

The acquisition is the first of several transactions CityFibre expects to close over the next two years as it seeks to become 'the third infrastructure platform'.

Lit is a vertically integrated altnet, comprising a network builder and ISP. It has a current footprint of over 200,000 premises across more than 20 towns in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex and Suffolk, and serves a growing subscriber base of more than 9,000 retail customers.

CityFibre intends to complete Lit’s work-in-progress deployment as well as the majority of its planned network rollouts. Lit is currently on track to deliver up to 100,000 further premises by early 2025. Its network is built exclusively using existing poles.

CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch stated: “Our self-build rollout programme has already delivered more than 3.5 million premises to our partners and we’re accelerating this through targeted acquisitions like Lit Fibre.

“The UK market needs a third infrastructure platform of scale to ensure competition matures and that it continues to deliver for consumers and the country. Our acquisition of Lit is a clear demonstration of our intent to establish CityFibre as the core of that third platform.”

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Evolve IP gears up for 2024 Partner Day

Evolve IP is gathering partners at the Williams Racing F1 Experience Centre in Grove, Oxfordshire on April 18th, to share its roadmap for driving growth.

The day-long event will detail Evolve IP’s expanding product roadmap as it hails 2024 as the ‘year to sell’.

Evolve IP EMEA MEA MD Paul Harrison , said: “We recognise the importance of partnerships which is a key cornerstone of our ethos and evolution.

“Partnerships help create best-of-breed solutions and can unlock new doors, opportunities and deliver greater customer value and service.”

The Partner Day 2024 event is supported by technology partners Akixi , iTel , Dubber , Enghouse Systems , BroadSource , Snom Technology GmbH , PromptVoice , Intelligent Billing - PRD Technologies Ltd , Jabra , Yealink and Tango Networks .

Avoira MD acquires business from Nycomm

Avoira ’s longstanding MD Dr Andrew Roberts has acquired the company from its parent Nycomm .

Roberts has reinvested the funds secured from the sale of his Nycomm shareholding in Avoira and will remain at the helm of the business. Fellow Non-Executive Director David Bennett will step down.

Avoira currently turns over ￡26.5m and employs nearly 160 staff at its offices in Bury, Bristol, Leeds, London, West Lakes and Warrington.

It was initially acquired by Nycomm Holdings in 2017, joining Nimans within the group. Nycomm subsequently sold Nimans to Midwich in 2022.

Roberts said: “Beyond shareholding, nothing has changed as I will continue to lead the business and follow the path to profitable growth which has already been laid down.”

Equity secures investment to boost M&A plans

Equity Networks Ltd has secured investment from Coniston Capital to help fund its M&A strategy.

The business has made five acquisitions to date and plans to execute on its next phase of acquisitions, stating it has several opportunities in the pipeline.

Edward Spurrier will join the board of directors as Non-Executive Chairman, bringing experience from the sector including roles as CEO of Alt Networks and Chairman of Wavenet.

Alfred Chambers , who led the transaction for Coniston and will also join the board of Equity Networks.

Equity Co-Owner Alex Hall said: “Coniston’s expertise, experience and funding will enable us to accelerate our acquisition plans, to take advantage of opportunities and ultimately to better serve our customers.”

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.