Vancouver, Canada based Lite Access Technologies Inc.(TSX VENTURE: LTE) (OTC PINK: LTCCF) says that it has been awarded a rural fiber-optic broadband deployment contract by Gigaclear Plc. to deliver ultrafast, full-fiber broadband to as many as 10,000 homes in West Oxfordshire, UK. Lite Access anticipates that work will be finished by the end of 2019, and expects the total value of the award to be approximately $29 million.
Gigaclear delivers gigabit services to more than 60,000 homes and businesses throughout Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, and Worcestershire. Using commercial investment to build networks, the company has also been awarded contracts in 2017 as part of the government subsidized BDUK rural broadband program in Devon, Essex, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire.
"This is a watershed moment for our company and validates the premium quality of our work and ramp up in the UK over the past year," said Carlo Shimoon, Lite Access CEO. "Our cutting-edge fiber deployment technologies are ideally suited for this rural environment and we expect to expand our strategic relationship with Gigaclear in support of their growing rural fiber coverage. We could not be more excited about this first, of what we expect will be many, opportunities. We are pleased with the direction the company is heading, our growth potential, and ensuring that we remain a world leader in this industry to unlock the full fiber future in the UK and elsewhere."
Last March, Lite Access closed $20.45 million in bought deal financing, with the majority of the funding going toward expanding its UK operations, and reported on successful support of an FTTH trial deployment in Ireland (see "Lite Access Technologies raises cash, provides FTTH project updates").
Lite Access provides fiber to the home (FTTH) and related optical access network installation services using its microduct and narrow trenching expertise. Its narrow trenching techniques have found favor in the UK, Lite Access attests. The company has been involved with deployment of thousands of kilometers of broadband networks across North America and the UK, and South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia as well.
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