Altnet Netomnia, service provider YouFibre score funding for UK full fiber deployment
UK wholesale altnet Netomnia and sister company service provider YouFibre say they have landed £123 million of funding to support their UK-wide deployment of full fiber broadband infrastructure and accompanying broadband. The funds include £20 million from ESO Capital Partners UK LLP, £25 million from AdvenCap, £73 million in debt provided by Avenue Capital Group, and £5 million from the founders.
Those founders include Jeremy Chelot, former CEO of Community Fibre, who started both companies in 2019. Netomnia launched full fiber network construction in 2020. Its fiber network currently passes 75,000 premises, with plans to pass 1 million premises by 2023 as it expands beyond Britain into Scotland and Wales. Netomnia expects to pass more than 100,000 premises by year’s end; YouFibre plans to serve more than 5,000 customers by the same time marker.
Netomnia is using XGS-PON technology for its full fiber rollout.
"We are very excited to welcome our new investors on board,” commented Chelot, who is also CEO of Netomnia and YouFibre. “This funding will support our strategy to roll our network out faster and across more areas, marking another step towards becoming the third national full fiber network operator in the UK. We are scaling rapidly, as we rise to the challenge of providing the future-proof multi-gigabit connectivity which will aid the economic and social development of towns and cities across the country for generations to come."
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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