CityFibre completes FibreNation acquisition
Details
Editor
| 28 March 2020

The shareholders of UK ISP TalkTalk Group shareholders have given formal approval for UK fibre broadband network provider CityFibre to acquire infrastructure and services firm FibreNation.

Founded in 2018 after a joint venture between TalkTalk, Sky and CityFibre, FibreNation was launched to deploy full-fibre across the region of York in the north of England and offers gigabit-speed broadband services from TalkTalk to approximately 49,000 premises.

The acquisition, first announced in January 2020, establishes CityFibre as the as the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform and enables CityFibre to increase its rollout ambition from 5 million to up to 8 million premises, supporting an investment programme of up to £4 billion.

The FibreNation brand will remain in market and the company will continue to operate and expand its networks where nearly 60,000 premises can gain access to gigabit speed broadband services from TalkTalk. The completion also triggers TalkTalk’s onboarding as CityFibre’s latest major customer, making long-term commitments of both residential and business customers. TalkTalk Group will now begin a process of systems integration as part of long-term commitments across CityFibre’s existing and future network rollout.

Commenting on the deal, Greg Mesch, chief executive at CityFibre, said: “In the face of the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and its unprecedented impact on the UK's society and economy, we believe that the need for world-class digital infrastructure has never been greater. Completing our acquisition of FibreNation marks an acceleration in our ability to deploy the critical future-proof digital infrastructure our country needs. By significantly expanding our rollout ambition to up to 8 million premises, CityFibre is helping to answer the call for a full fibre Britain.”

The UK’s fibre broadband market is hugely competitive. Incumbent telco BT claims to be on the verge of becoming the country's fastest home broadband provider in more places than any another with the launch of a new gigabit service. Cable company Virgin Media plans to offer gigabit speeds to more than 15 million homes across its network by the end of 2021, delivering half of the UK government’s broadband ambition four years early.