Fibre pair raise £230m in debt for UK expansion plan
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Fibre pair raise £230m in debt for UK expansion plan

Wil Wadsworth.jpg

Netomnia and its sister company YouFibre have raised £230 million in committed debt financing.

The company, which offers fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) to 410,000 premises and which connects 28,000 customers, said it plans to expand to a million homes across the country.

Wil Wadsworth (pictured), CFO of Netomnia and YouFibre, said: “Everyone in the UK is impacted by the rising cost of living, and interest rates are hitting businesses and families alike. Now more than ever it’s vital that we continue to build our network at pace to provide better and more affordable broadband to as many homes and businesses as we can.”

The funds come from six bank lenders – HSBC UK, ING, NIBC, RBC, Standard Chartered and UKIB. The financing package also includes an accordion – an option that gives Netomnia and YouFibre the right to increase their line of credit – to be raised in the future to support the continued growth of the business.

Wadsworth, who moved into telecoms in 2015 with Gigaclear, another UK FTTH company, said: “We are very pleased to welcome this new group of lenders to Netomnia and are thrilled they have chosen to support the continued acceleration of our business. The enthusiasm from these institutions to support our business is a testament to our successes at Netomnia and YouFibre, and our unique approach to building our full fibre network and providing best-in-class internet speeds and services to customers across the UK.”

The companies are building in a number of communities from Dover in the south-east of England, to Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, Cardiff and Swansea in Wales, and Belfast in Northern Ireland, but not in London.

Netomnia said it has become the fourth largest altnet in the UK in two and half years.

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