AMP Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in VX Fiber, an international infra tech fibre business headquartered in Sweden, on behalf of investors in its infrastructure equity strategy. VX Fiber has existing operations in South Africa and the UK and is targeting an advanced pipeline of opportunities in the UK, Belgium, Austria and Germany.

VX Fiber designs, builds and operates full fibre FTTP (Fibre-To-The-Premise) open access networks globally and has developed its own proprietary software platform which it operates on third parties’ passive fibre infrastructure as fibre operator. The entire network is remotely run through a network operations centre (NOC) in Umea, Sweden.

The business provides an essential service in the fibre value chain, with know-how, contracted position and in time fibre ownership leading to high barriers to entry in a strong growth market. It partners with fibre owners such as local municipalities, real estate owners and utilities to provide an active infrastructure layer to efficiently operate the network and drive fibre adoption.

VX Fiber has developed an approach which benefits all parties: its pioneering partnership approach with the owners of passive infrastructure allows them to monetize their passive infrastructure assets; VX Fiber’s active open access system inviting multiple service providers and enabling subscribers to choose from several independent service providers drives better consumer value; its provision of ancillary services makes VX Fiber a sophisticated connectivity solutions business.

VX Fiber currently has a significant mature business in South Africa, where the company’s active open access solution has proven very popular with subscribers and service providers, and now involves all significant service providers in the country. In the UK VX Fiber has established relationships with large real estate owners and City Councils. For example, since 2017 the company has partnered with the Grosvenor Estate to transform London’s digital landscape through the creation of a new gigabit-capable fiber broadband network throughout Mayfair and Belgravia. In Stoke-on-Trent, the City Council has partnered with VX Fiber so that Stoke will be one of the first cities in the UK to benefit from the FTTP open access model. The innovative project aims to use and extend the City Council’s existing private optical network ducting to create a 60-mile system that will make full-fiber gigabit broadband connectivity available to the entire community.