CityFibre scores extra £1bn+ of funding to plumb in up to 8 million British homes by 2025

Full-fibre network operator CityFibre has grabbed £1.125bn in financing to help support its plan to wire up to eight million homes in the UK. The funding is made up of £825m of equity from new investors – Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Co, and Interogo Holding, a private equity investor best known for …

[Paul Crawford]

According to Ofcom's latest figures, in May 2021, 24 per cent of the UK had access to full fibre broadband.

Is that 24% of the UK land, or 24% of the population which is heavily concentrated in the cities?

[Richard 12]

To be fair

Land doesn't use the Internet, people do.

The real problem is that they're only bothering with the highest density housing - flats and some HMOs.

It's also basically impossible to find out where they're planning to install until they start digging up the road - and often not even then.

Worst, most new build estates are not being set up with FTTP even though it'd be really cheap to do.

[Aitor 1]

Re: To be fair

If it costs more than 0£ builders will not do it!

Also, cityfibre damaged the sidewalk in my street, to put fibre.

Two years after that and I can't have service.

[MrMerrymaker]

Sorry this is off topic but

Sir Clive Sinclair dead.

A true icon of British computing.

I look forward.. If that's the term.. To El Reg paying tribute.

Anyway, to be on topic: broadband fine, but quality over quantity.

[djstardust]

Vapourware

Vodafone promised Gigafast (City Fibre) for our area in 2019

They dug up the main street some time ago and that was that.

Vodafone tell us to contact City fibre, they tell us to contact Vodafone.

Useless.

Even if it does happen I can't be arsed giving them the business to be honest.

[wintergirl]

Re: Vapourware

Very similar story here. FibreNation dug up the street in early 2020 - residents received mail from FibreNation and then TalkTalk saying "hey, gigabit fibre broadband is available, sign up now". Signed up, paid, nobody turned up, got refunded. That was the last anyone heard of it, other than the fibre sitting under the street.

Fast forward through an uneventful year to September 2021 and some more postal bumf has arrived, this time from CityFibre, saying - and I quote - "you may want to think twice about signing a long-term broadband contract until you can get Full Fibre". I don't think I'll bother when it is available. This company's endless announcements of expansion when its already built-out areas don't go live make me feel squicky about the whole operation, almost as if it's designed mainly to raise capital on the markets than to provide services.

[Just an old bloke]

Here I am, sat in a small village in the Canary Islands enjoying a really great, low latency, fibre connection. I went for the cheap offering at 38€/month, 300Mb synchronous. I didn't feel the need for the 600Mb ...

[Kane]

"Here I am, sat in a small village in the Canary Islands enjoying a really great, low latency, fibre connection. I went for the cheap offering at 38€/month, 300Mb synchronous. I didn't feel the need for the 600Mb ..."

Here I am, sat in a small town on the outskirts of Kent struggling with a really, really flaky copper connection. The only highest speed offering available from the various unbundled providers is 12/3 at £22 a month. I would be happy with 50/50 and would be willing to pay the increase cost.

[crediblywitless]

I have a Cityfibre cab 20 feet from my front door. I had an installation appointment with Vodafone for Thursday 19th March 2020. I still have the router they sent. This appointment was postponed on Mon 16th March 2020 citing "cabling problems". After first lockdown, in September 2020, I went back to Vodafone to find out the score, and they'd cancelled my installation, closed my account, and apparently weren't able to offer me _any_ broadband service. I've since asked everyone I can think of about the issue (Vodafone, Cityfibre, local authority promoting "Gigabit City") and I get nothing. If I use Cityfibre's service-checker, it tells me "your landlord hasn't agreed to the installation yet". I don't have a landlord; I have a mortgage. Utterly useless, and getting on for two years since we were first told it was happening. I don't know why they bother, and I certainly don't know why anyone would invest.

[knarf]

I have two fibre lines

Virgin dug up the street about 4 years ago and stuck fibre in

City Fibre dug up the street 1 year ago and put fibre in.

No idea why I have two when other areas have none.

Choice comes down to, do you want the free BT sports with Virgin.

I can also get very Scottish broadband with https://www.brawband.co.uk/ , Although I think they missed a trick and could have called it Baw Band.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

"Interogo Holding, a private equity investor best known for owning flat-packed furniture maker Ikea."

Interogo Holding AG doesn't own IKEA. Interogo Holding AG is a Swiss company that is owned by a Luxembourgish foundation called Interogo Foundation. Interogo Foundation also owns Inter Ikea Group.