UK wholesale fibre start up gets £50m injection

UK start up wholesale fibre provider Hyperoptic has received an equity investment of £50m from currency speculator billionaire George Soros. The firm said the funding will enable it to meet its plans to reach more than 500,000 UK homes with its 1Gbps fibre broadband within the next five years. The investment is led by Quantum Strategic Partners, Soros’ private investment vehicle.

In September 2011, Hyperoptic delivered a 1Gbps symmetrical residential broadband service in the UK, which it claimed is 83 times faster than the current national average. The firm recently announced that it had connected more than 20,000 homes in London. The company now aims to bring its FTTH technology to ten additional UK cities by the end of the year, with locations to be prioritised based on consumer demand.

The firm added that it will soon expand to provide broadband to business and commercial premises, as well as developing new products such as IPTV and cloud computing offerings for its consumer customers.

As part of the investment, three additional non-executive directors will join Hyperoptic’s board to oversee the company’s rapid expansion.

“Today’s investment is a resounding vote of confidence in both our business model and the bright prospects for FTTH technology in the UK,” said Boris Ivanovic, chairman and co-founder of Hyperoptic.

“As momentum continues to build for ‘smart cities’ and an increasingly technology-fuelled economy and society, the need to future proof our infrastructure has become absolutely critical and Hyperoptic will play a key role in doing just that.”