CityFibre Raises £30m To Build 20 Gigabit Networks Across UK

CityFibre says it will use the £30 million it has received in its latest round of funding to build gigabit networks in 20 more towns and cities by the end of 2016.

The company recently raised £16.5 million in its initial public offering (IPO) and hopes to reach one million more homes and businesses within the next 48 months.

It already operates 1Gbps fibre networks in York and Peterborough, while last week it agreed to acquire a publicly-owned FTTP network in Coventry.

CityFibre funding

“We are delighted to have a strong capital base behind us and we can now put our foot firmly on the pedal in our roll-out of Gigabit Cities,” says CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch. “All the evidence points to the social and economic advantages enjoyed by cities with a future-proofed digital infrastructure and we welcome the increased interest from cities and their service providers in our shared fibre infrastructure solution.”

CityFibre says it has received “substantial” interest from other local authorities wishing to become the next gigabit cities and has invited councils to submit applications to become one of the next ten locations.

This expansion could be a boost for the company’s joint-venture plans with Sky and TalkTalk. The three parties have agreed a deal to create a fibre network in York, based on CityFibre’s infrastructure, and have plans to export the model to other cities.

Sky and TalkTalk are keen to reduce their dependency on BT Openreach’s fibre network with the former state monopoly expanding into television and mobile services in an effort to maintain and expand its market share.

Rival firm Hyperoptic recently announced that it would be building gigabit networks in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds to complement its existing services in Bristol, Cardiff, London and Reading.

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