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Unified Comms
January 21, 2016
Deal means Cityfibre now covers 36 cities across the UK, and is the largest infrastructure provider after BT
CityFibre has completed its £90 million acquisition of KCOM’s national fibre and duct network.
The agreement to buy the KCOM assets was announced in December and is part of CityFibre’s drive to challenge BT Openreach’s fibre rollout. It means the
Adding KCOM’s infrastructure to its own means Cityfibre now covers 36 cities, with its aim to expand this to 50 cities (or 20 per cent of the UK market) by 2020. It sees the London based firm increase its fibre footprint by 300 per cent.
CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “This is a momentous day for UK broadband infrastructure, which has seen no meaningful alternative investment for well over a decade. By combining the unique and highly attractive KCOM network assets with our own, we are well-positioned to tap into future growth in the rapidly evolving UK fibre market.
“With a very significant presence in 36 cities, 21 of which are completely new markets for us, we are now established as a credible alternative to BT Openreach, and the largest independent provider of wholesale fibre infrastructure on a national basis.”
Funding
The agreement has been funded in part by a new financing package made up of £80 million in new equity, plus a £100 million debt facility. CityFibre said it has secured more than £250 million to invest overall in UK fibre.
The assets acquired from KCOM include 1,100km of duct and fibre network in 24 UK cities, plus 1,100km of national long distance network.
CityFibre operates six ‘gigabit’ networks in Peterborough, Coventry, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and York CityFibre, who in October struck an agreement to provide Vodafone with backhaul, will see its network address more than 7,000 mobile cell sites, 24,5000 public sector sites and 245,000 businesses.
CityFibre’s expanded footprint now addresses more than 7,000 mobile cell sites, 24,500 public sector sites and 245,000 businesses. It positions CityFibre as an enabler for gigabit speed, ultrafast broadband to support FTTH deployments to 3.5m homes.
Mesch added: “The £180 million funding package we have closed equips us to push hard on commercialising the acquired assets, which we’ve already begun to do with our first new service provider relationship on the acquired Bristol network.
“It also funds our continued organic growth trajectory towards our medium term goal of dense network presence in 50 towns and cities, with an estimated addressable footprint of 35,000 public sector sites, 10,000 cell sites, 350,000 businesses, and 5.0 million homes.
“This is an audacious acquisition which elevates us to a much more significant place in the UK network infrastructure arena, and we look forward to continuing to prove out our strategy across a vastly expanded footprint.”