The investment in Community Fibre – by private equity investor Warburg and Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners – was announced at the end of July. Its completion will see Olaf Swantee, former CEO of EE, become executive chairman.
The company will use the investment to speed up its investment in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, mainly covering low-cost housing blocks in London.
“Warburg’s investment is very much around accelerating the network strategy,” chief commercial officer Peter Rampling told Capacity. “We’ve already passed 100,000 homes in London.” He would not say how many of those have taken Community Fibre’s service.
“I won’t say anything about customer numbers,” he said, “but this year we’ve increased by 50% on the number at the end of December 2019.”
The company aims to pass a million homes by the end of 2023.
According to data from the Mayor of London there will be about 3.8 million households in Greater London in 2023, with about 2.5 people per household. That means Community Fibre will be available to 26% of London homes in three years’ time.
Rampling told Capacity that Community Fibre is continuing to install during the pandemic, with staff wearing protective clothing as the fit equipment in homes.
The company is installing in boroughs across London, he said, from Brent in the north-west to Lewisham (pictured) in the south-east and Croydon in the south. “We have no plans to be outside London.”
The Warburg/Deutsche Telekom investment will enable the company to continue its build programme. “We are expecting completion [of the deal] by the end of August,” said Rampling. Its completion will lead to the appointment of Swantee, who is an advisor to Warburg, as executive chairman.
