Hyperoptic snaps up another £150 million in funding

The altnet has raised an additional £255 million of debt facilities this year from new and existing lenders and it now has a committed debt facility of over £1.1 billion. It says it will use this latest pot of extra cash to boost its roll out and growth plans.

Hyperoptic says it was the first broadband provider to bring gigabit speeds to UK homes, and has passed more than 1.73 million of them and connected more than 340,000 customers. The release states the planned roll out ‘places particular emphasis on connecting more people to the network, bridging the digital divide and providing essential connectivity to communities nationwide.’ – though,

While an aspiration to connect more people to the network would seem to be a given, it also says it has a focus on connecting social housing premises, where ‘access to robust full fibre broadband services is often limited’. Thousands of residents in social housing will be able to access to its 'social tariff,' which is supposed to provide affordable access to gigabit broadband, we’re told.

“Since 2011, we’ve been on a mission to bring ultra-reliable, hyperfast full fibre broadband to businesses and consumers across urban areas and new developments in the UK,” said Dana Tobak CBE, CEO and Co-Founder at Hyperoptic. “We’re acutely aware of the government’s target to achieve 99% gigabit-capable broadband coverage by 2030 and, as an industry, we still have some way to go to achieve it. We welcome the support of the UK Infrastructure Bank, together with other investors, enabling us to continue delivering award-winning gigabit-capable broadband to more people across the UK every day.” 

Ian Brown, Head of Banking & Investments at UKIB added: “Reliable internet connectivity is increasingly important to participate in the modern economy and drive forward the UK’s net zero and regional growth ambitions. Our investment in Hyperoptic will ensure that the scale and pace of the full fibre rollout is sustained, specifically in those areas where it’s needed the most, opening up opportunity for numerous communities across the UK. We hope that our commitment will help mobilise further private debt financing for Hyperoptic’s continued network expansion.”

In June last year Hypertropic announced it would lay off 5% of its workforce as it moves to refocus on regions that offer it the best opportunities for customer acquisition. Later that year it poached fixed-line industry veteran Duncan Macdonald from Liberty Global as its CTIO, in a move pitched as necessary to give the company the technical capability it needs to support the rapid customer growth it is after.

Last year it also leaned into its self-styled consumer champion brand image with a TV ad campaign criticising the big telcos for mid-contract price hikes. While all marketing is obviously designed to attract customers or lure them from the competition, publicly refusing to engage in the practice during a cost of living crisis while slamming those that do provides some pretty solid footing from which to attack.