Hyperoptic secures £100m to accelerate full-fibre rollout
News

Hyperoptic secures £100m to accelerate full-fibre rollout

Hyperoptic has today announced that it has secured an additional £100 million in funding to accelerate the build of its full-fibre network.

The UK residential gigabit broadband provider’s full-fibre broadband, with its 100Mbps and 1Gbps broadband services, is currently available across 28 cities and towns across the UK. With this funding it plans to make its hyper-fast broadband service available to two million homes by 2022 and five million by 2025.

The news comes a year after the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to provide an eight-year £21 million loan to support Hyperoptic to invest in providing 1Gbps fibre broadband to reach more than 300,000 homes in the next three years. In 2013 Hyperoptic received an equity investment led by Quantum Strategic Partners Ltd, a private investment vehicle managed by Soros Fund Management LLC.

“We are proud to have created a network of gigabit cities where residents can live and work without connectivity constraints. Through private funding and partnerships with developers, freeholders, and councils we have hugely increased our footprint – but it’s our customers that have been the biggest catalyst in fueling our growth,” said Dana Tobak, CEO of Hyperoptic.

“We have a 4* Trustpilot rating; the highest in the industry. Our customers have really supported us by sharing their experiences with their neighbours, family and friends, which has meant that we have been able to expedite our rollouts across urban centres. This new round of funding enables us to offer even more people a credible broadband alternative that is future-proofed for decades to come.”

The £100 million cash injection comes from a consortium of four tier one European banks – BNP Paribas, ING, RBS and Dutch investment bank NIBC. LionTree Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Hyperoptic.

This funding will allow Hyperoptic to exponentially expand its coverage, to consumers and businesses that have been left neglected by the big players like BT, and that it has not been able to reach in the past. Hyperoptic is also evolving its business model to offer its market leading services to sites starting at just 25 units - plus based upon the demand for its services and proximity of its fibre network, it can even service smaller sites.

“Full-fibre is the gold standard of broadband connectivity – and through companies like Hyperoptic, our commitment to world-class digital infrastructure for everyone in the UK is already becoming a reality,” said Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Jones. “We’re investing over £1 billion in next generation digital communications, including our recently launched £400 million Digital Infrastructure Investment fund, and a five year business rates relief on new full-fibre investment – all of which will stimulate the market, and expand full-fibre networks around the country.”

Hyperoptic, which runs its own dedicated fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network, has been growing its network reach by over 100% for the last three years in a row. During this process it has installed over 20 million metres of dedicated cable - further than the distance from the UK to New Zealand.

Jean-Philippe Rouane, head of media telecom finance, BNP Paribas, Corporate and Institutional Banking EMEA, added: “We’re delighted to support Hyperoptic in the next stage in its rapid development. Their impressive progress is positive for the quality of telecom services offered to customers and reflects the growth opportunities the fast-paced UK telecoms market offers to new ideas.

“The additional £100 million funding will enable Hyperoptic to expand its footprint further and provide more competition for bigger providers such as British Telecom and Virgin Media. An increase in competitive broadband choices can only be good for UK consumers.”





Gift this article