Welcome to our new weekly news round-up

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 alongside insight and analysis from sector experts. And now, every Friday morning, we will be rounding up the top news that broke during the week.

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In this week's news...

Strategic Imperatives and X3T merge operations

Strategic Imperatives has merged with X3T to leverage the company’s wholesaling solution and financial backing.

The X3T platform is built for wholesale networks to facilitate simple integration for ISPs. It was established by investors Granahan McCourt Capital last year with backing from Asterion Industrial Partners , Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. , Tetrad Group and Twin Point Capital LLC .

The merger will boost Strategic Imperative’s Fibre Café solution, a SaaS platform enabling collaboration between altnets and ISPs and currently integrating over three million connections.

Wail Sabbagh , MD at Strategic Imperatives, said: “This merger supports our vision to make Fibre Café the leading unified interface to the UK’s fibre ecosystem and the gateway to a connected Britain.

“We will accelerate our continued investment and rollout with the financial backing and global expertise that this merger provides.”

Dave McCourt , Chairman of Granahan McCourt Capital and X3T, added: “As an investor, owner and operator, we know first-hand that the combined capabilities of X3T and Strategic Imperatives provides the blueprint for altnets and ISPs to scale.”

Voneus secures further ￡25m from shareholders

A further combined capital investment of ￡25m has been made into Voneus by its shareholders and lenders.

This has been confirmed by Global Connectivity PLC , a shareholder in Voneus through its investment in Rural Broadband Holdings Solutions Limited (RBSHL).

This investment increases RBSHL’s stake to 37% from 32%. Global Connectivity owns a 15% stake in RBSHL’s common equity.

Global Connectivity Chairman Keith Harris said: “We are happy that our partner in RBSHL has increased its relative funding and thereby increased our ownership position of Voneus.”

The altnet is currently targeting 350,000 premises across the UK. In September 2023, it absorbed SWS Broadband, Cadence Networks and Broadway Partners.

Hyperoptic welcomes back Sharma to lead brand

Hyperoptic has appointed Sunita S. as its new Head of Brand and Communications.

She is returning to the business after three years away, having previously been part of the Hyperoptic team at the beginning of the business’s journey in 2011.

During her absence from Hyperoptic, Sharma held the role Director of Customer Experience at Lit Fibre re. In total, she has over 20 years of telco experience, gained in roles within customer service, operations, marketing communications and brand.

Back at Hyperoptic, Sharma will lead on brand development strategy, working to enhance the company's market presence, customer engagement, and overall brand identity.

Lutfu Kitapci , Hyperoptic CCO & MD of ISP, said: “Sunita’s knowledge of the Hyperoptic brand, teamed with her extensive experience and strategic mindset, will be instrumental in elevating the Hyperoptic brand to new heights.”

Upcoming Industry event

Building on the success of our 2023 event which over 500 fibre professionals attended on the day, the UK Fibre Awards returns for its third year in 2024 to recognise a wider range of achievements from the UK's booming fibre, altnet and carrier sectors.

For details on how to enter your top teams, contact Jonathan Holmes for entry forms or for sponsorship enquiries/details on how to attend the event, contact Heather Miles.

Lightning Fibre secures wayleave deal with Southern Housing

Lightning Fibre has signed a universal wayleave agreement with Southern Housing ng to install a new full fibre broadband network in homes across East Sussex.

The agreement covers Southern Housing residents in areas including East Sussex, Wealden and Rother.

Lightning Fibre has also signed a wayleave agreement with Eastbourne Homes, who own thousands of properties across Eastbourne; Orbit Homes Group in conjunction with Complete Fibre Group (CTG); and is working with Trinity Homes to deliver Full Fibre to new developments, including social housing projects.

Stefan Stanislawski , Lightning Fibre’s CEO, said: “With a move towards digital services to modernise and streamline how housing associations interact with residents, Lightning Fibre will ensure people are not left behind as we help create ‘Digital Britain’.”

brsk adds TV offering with Netgem

Brsk is adding 4K TV streaming to its broadband offering through a partnership with Netgem TV.

The partnership will see brsk offer customers an integrated TV solution to stream movies, TV shows and live content through Netgem’s UHD TV box.

Giorgio Iovino , CEO of brsk said: “BetterTV brings the world of content streaming and cloud gaming to our customers over our brand-new full fibre broadband network.”

Sylvain Thevenot , Chief Commercial & Customer Officer, Netgem Group, added: “This partnership provides another strong example of how leading fibre broadband providers can benefit from the TV service we have developed for modern UK households.”

D&A clears pathway for advancing altnets

D&A Commercial has established itself as a respected player within the Telecommunications & fibre industry, providing specialist desilting and tree-cutting services to over 120 altnets since launching in June 2020.

The organisation was established three years ago after identifying a gap In the industry. With the team bringing experience in civil avoidance since 2015, D&A saw an opportunity to offer a service it believes is superior to what was being provided in the sector.?

D&A attributes its growth in these years to the role it company plays in ensuring rollouts can commence quickly, without additional noise, disruption and environmental impact.

Dave Angel said: “Our growth and volume of strong relationships has come from our demonstrated history of quality delivery which means the companies we work with maintain a strong reputation.”

“This is enabling those companies to have better relationships with business owners and residents, and this will have a direct impact on connections when these networks go live.”

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