All Gigaclear articles
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Network & Infrastructure
UK’s Project Gigabit: billions committed, but just 1.6% take-up at last count
Nearly four years in, government’s Project Gigabit spend reaches £2.2bn with latest Openreach contracts, but connections faltering at just 11,000 as commitments and subsidies yet to translate to boots on the ground. With another £400m in the procurement pipeline for 2025, when will cash finally convert to real impact? In depth non-chummy review of UK rural fibre programme inside…
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Strategy & Change
Zzoomm: capital costs holding back build and consolidation
At INCA Summit Zzoomm’s CEO Matthew Hare predicted a bright future for the sector, but current cost of capital is impeding expansion plans and complicating the path to consolidation.
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: private networks under scrutiny, IoT’s defence role flagged
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including NIC consideration of network investment vulnerabilities; Europe backing for satellite defence role; iliad plots hyperscale data platform; people moves, and plenty more…
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M&A
Virgin Media O2 sheds further chunk of Cornerstone TowerCo
£180m+ fillip sees VM O2 reach monetisation milestone, with another minority offload, while continuing to consolidate TowerCo financially. Buyer Equitix extends digital infra portfolio, while UK tower landscape continue to shift…
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: EU to invest in quantum, subsea, and 5G; hurricanes accelerate LEO clearance
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including a new data centre for Manchester; Starlink sat‑to‑cell cleared for hurricane relief; EU heralds €865m spending plans, and plenty more…
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: Gigaclear eyes more funding, SatCos look to partners, DT fuels infra beefs
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including potential funding gap at Gigaclear; Intelsat links with Vodafone; new leadership at Freedom Fibre; Ofcom calls in OTS reinforcements, and plenty more…
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Venturing & Investments
Altnet Ogi picks up £45m in funding from Cardiff councils
Welsh fibre altnet secures Cardiff Capital Region debt facility and additional backing from long–term investor Infracapital.
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Network & Infrastructure
Trooli CEO: UK’s Project Gigabit scheme will ‘come into its own’
Talking to Zen’s Richard Tang, Trooli CEO Andy Conibere praised the work of the government’s BDUK in stimulating an altnet industry.
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: Italian infra on the up; Project Gigabit preps leap forward; Macquarie comes and goes
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond; including INWIT prepping for Italian investment boost; Indus Towers finally getting paid; claims that UK PIA oversight is MIA; latest people moves; and plenty more…
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Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: CEO claims ‘solid start’ but warns of tumultuous year to come
Latest from BT and its interests, including: a Q1 report that tees up plenty of turbulence to come, but with a recovery scheduled within the next 18 months; a massive ESN contract in the works with BT despite equally substantial delays in recent years; and new digs for the former CEO…
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: VM O2 readying NetCo, Spain’s InfraCo bonanza, UK altnets’ investment “bad rep”
Latest from digital infra scene, including: UK sector’s reaction to the new Labour government and hopes for continued investment; Vodafone returning once again to the Vantage Towers piggybank; plans for two new FibreCo JVs in Spain; and plenty more…
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Venturing & Investments
Infracapital: UK FibreCo fundraisers must graft to overcome global ‘bad rep’, new gov showing ‘green shoots’
INCA event provides platform for investors and altnets including Octopus and Netomnia to review early weeks of Labour government, with broad optimism on show despite still rocky funding environment. The capital exists, but what will Downing Street do to bring it to the UK? Read more…
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Venturing & Investments
Gov-backed UK Infrastructure Bank provides funding to another rural FibreCo
Cornish Wildanet attracts £35m investment from UKIB, days after the bank ploughed £150m into Hyperoptic.
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Venturing & Investments
Hyperoptic crosses £1bn funding milestone with fresh UK investment
Altnet focused on plugging connectivity gaps in urban areas says £150m in UK Infrastructure Bank money will particularly benefit social housing residents.
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: innovation fuelling investment, data centres bringing in cash
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including billions of dollars flood into data centres, race for satellite mobility drives innovation, ongoing UK efforts to make infrastructure-sharing a viable option; people moves, and plenty more…
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M&A
Altnets Netomnia-Brsk merging into UK FibreCo unicorn tier
This weekend sees confirmation of top-ten FibreCos combining into top-five integrated challenger with uprated three million footprint target, wholesale differentiation, prep’d for further M&A. Read more, including our updated market overview…
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Network & Infrastructure
Project Gigabit finally reaches Scotland with first rural fibre tender
UK government fibre build scheme opens procurement process for North East Scotland network, geared towards reaching 68,000 premises. Northern Ireland and Wales contracts in the pipeline, as are larger ‘call-off’ bundled lots that have piqued the interest of larger players…
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: CTOs to the fore as industry reshuffles, DT disses 1&1, BDUK springs forward
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including big Project Gigabit wins for Quickline, Wessex Internet, and Wildanet; a first appearance in the wild of a DSIT-funded 4G mast; DT taking a swipe at its newest mobile rival; people moves, and plenty more…
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Network & Infrastructure
Major players in the frame as Project Gigabit mega-deals come into play
Altnets including Quickline, Wessex and Wildanet pick up BDUK contracts to reach rural homes, but the prospect of cross-regional deals for Openreach and VM O2 appears increasingly likely as another agreed deal is abandoned…
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Interview
Netomnia: capex inefficiency is blocking consolidation opportunity
Speaking to TelcoTitans, Netomnia founder and CEO Jeremy Chelot suggests too many altnets are banking on unachievable take-up goals, and that playing fast and loose with investor money has resulted in a block on viable valuations for consolidation.