Are you getting enough Fibre?

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. As part of this mission, our weekly newsletter compiles the top news that broke during the week and brings it straight to your inbox.

Don't forget to 'subscribe' at the top of this page to receive this essential industry update.

In this week's news...

Netomnia and YouFibre secure a further ￡147.5m

Netomnia , along with ISP sister company YouFibre has completed an additional fundraise of ￡147.5m in its accordion facility welcoming three new lenders: Barclays , Alpha Bank and NORD/LB .

This facility includes support from all incumbent lenders and increases its committed debt financing to ￡377.5m.

Supported by Advencap, DigitalBridge and Soho Square, it has raised ￡795.5m in just three years.

Jeremy Chelot , CEO at Netomnia and YouFibre, says: "This backing demonstrates the strength of Netomnia’s deployment plans in the market.

“With this latest round of funding, we are well-positioned to accelerate our network deployment efforts and continue delivering best-in-class internet services and customer experience."

Netomnia has now passed 850,000 premises, with YouFibre welcoming 80,000 customers.

Rundle to take the helm at Gigaclear

Nathan Rundle will succeed Gareth Williams as CEO of Gigaclear through a leadership transition beginning in April.

Rundle joined the altnet in 2018 and has served as COO for the last three years. He previously held leadership roles at BT and Openreach

His appointment represents a succession from phase one of build delivery to phase two focusing on adding paying customers and scaling efficiently in what is a consolidating market.

The altnet has so far built a network passing 500k rural properties and touching 100k paying customers.

CFO Ian Wade will also leave the business on the same timescale and Paul Evans, currently Financial Director, will continue to lead the company in the next stage of its growth. An external search for Ian’s long term successor has begun.

Steve Nelson , Chairman of Gigaclear, said: “Both Ian and Gareth have played a key role in shaping our plans for future growth, and they leave a business that has been transformed from an early-phase player into the leading rural fibre-to-the home operator."

We want to receive your Best OTT Service entry!

This award will be presented to a vendor whose product or service is deployed by carriers and network operators to build OTT services which have driven up ARPU beyond core connectivity such as UCaaS, VoIP, security, broadcast media, user experience management and content delivery.

We’ve made entering our awards simple, just download the entry form and you’ll receive our support every step of the way to ensure your submission hits the deadline (17th April) and meets the judging criteria.

Enter now: Enter Awards - https://lnkd.in/e7VbSTaV

For further information and sponsorship opportunities, please visit?https://fibreawards.com

Ogi and Vorboss demand tougher sanctions on fibre vandals

Ogi and Vorboss have written to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, asking for more protection against intentional damage to full fibre broadband infrastructure.

It cites recent vandalism in Liverpool, London, Pembrokeshire and Sheffield.

Specifically, the altnets are asking for a review into police engagement with these incidents,?criminal punishment for such malicious attacks, and industry compliance with current security rules.

The letter states that Intentional damage to fibre infrastructure should also be categorised as a criminal offense distinct from ordinary criminal damage due to the potential risks to life and the critical role that full fibre plays in keeping communities connected and safe.

Specifically, it proposes that perpetrators of such acts face the threat of ‘lengthy prison terms’ and ‘appropriate fines’.

英国电信集团 has been awarded a ￡26m Project Gigabit contract to connect over 650 primary schools in hard-to-reach places across England with gigabit broadband.?

This will enable more access to online resources for children, and generate cost savings and reduce workload for frontline professionals.

The programme is jointly funded by the Department for Education and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Ashish Gupta , MD, Corporate and Public Sector at BT, said:?“This investment will transform the learning experience for thousands of pupils, opening up opportunities for interactive lessons, collaborative projects with other schools and pupils anywhere in the world, as well access to an expanding online library of educational content and video.?

“Working with Openreach, we will be connecting the schools with lightning-fast broadband in phases over the next two years, with an ambition to complete delivery by Dec 2025.”?

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.