UK's full fibre broadband operator, G.Network said that it plans to invest over £1bn in rolling out connectivity in London following a successful fundraise.
The fundraise includes a new equity investment by USS, the UK’s largest private pension scheme by way of assets, of up to £295m over 6 years; as well as debt secured from four banks of up to £745m, contingent on passing certain milestones.
G.Network digs streets to install brand new, state-of-the-art, contiguous full fibre broadband infrastructure in the capital, offering both residential and business customers ultra-fast speeds. The network is ‘Open Access’, this means that other providers can offer connections to their customers using G.Network infrastructure in future. G.Network is currently working with eight local authorities and will bring its rollout to a further five, aiming to connect at least 80% of premises in each. In the next five years, G.Network plans to dig around 4,500km of streets, reaching approximately 1.4 million London premises, including many in underserved areas. The rollout is expected to create more than 1,250 new jobs, in addition to the c.a. 250 staff already employed by the Company, whilst bringing competitively-priced high speed broadband to residents and businesses.
Sasho Veselinski, CEO, G.Network
High speed, reliable connectivity is critical to the home and work lives of Londoners. That’s why G.Network is undertaking a fundamental upgrade of the capital’s telecoms infrastructure from copper to fibre. We are rebuilding London’s broadband from the fibre up, bringing first-class connectivity to residents and businesses without expecting them to pay more.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Oliver Dowden
This fantastic investment in our capital is a welcome boost to the government’s national mission to revolutionise Britain’s digital infrastructure. It will give London a much-needed helping hand as we race to build back better from the impact of Covid and upgrade broadband speeds for well over a million premises while also creating hundreds of new jobs.
