The news follows only months after Community Fibre raised £400 million in equity from Warburg Pincus to expand its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to blocks of apartments in London.
G.Network said it plans to dig around 4,500km of streets to lay fibre reaching approximately 1.4 million London premises, including many in underserved areas.
CEO Sasho Veselinski said: “We are rebuilding London’s broadband from the fibre up, bringing first-class connectivity to residents and businesses without expecting them to pay more.”
G.Network is a wholesale open-access business that offers connections to retail telecoms companies over its infrastructure. It is working with eight of London’s local authorities and said it will bring its rollout to a further five, aiming to connect at least 80% of premises in each.
The equity investment — of up to £295 million over six years — comes from Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a pension fund for staff in further education. Simon Pilcher, CEO of the fund, said: “This transaction is the latest in a series of new investments by USS in the UK, highlighting our commitment to long-term domestic investment particularly where we can identify supportive regulatory and government policy.”
In addition G.Network has raised £745 million from four banks, including an extendable credit facility.
Cube Infrastructure Managers said it has invested in G.Network over the past two years, extending its network to cover over 150,000 premises in central London and said it will remain as co-controlling shareholder alongside USS.
Henri Piganeau, managing partner at Cube, said: “We are known as pioneers among infrastructure funds for investing early in fibre open-access networks. … G.Network represents a compelling proposition for the enormous number of businesses and residents in London, who are chronically under-served by existing connectivity infrastructure.”
Piganeau’s words are supported by a report from EY out today that says the rate at which UK properties are being connected to gigabit-capable networks in the UK would need to increase by 85% — more than 10,000 homes a day — to meet the government’s recently reduced 2025 target, particularly in rural areas.
Praveen Shankar, EY’s head of technology, media and telecommunications for the UK and Ireland, said: “A lack of high-quality digital infrastructure in the regions will limit the opportunity to rebalance and grow the UK economy in years to come. Without equal opportunities to access digital technology, long innovation and social cohesion to support the long-term ‘levelling up’ agenda in the UK will be affected.”
Shankar said: “Urgent improvements to the UK’s digital infrastructure are not only essential for businesses to grow and thrive, but they are also required to secure long-term national competitiveness. Without significant attention on gigabit infrastructure, the UK risks falling further behind European neighbours.”
G.Network said it will charge £22 a month for the first three months to deliver symmetrical 900Mbps. The regular rate is £48 a month, with no connection charge.
