CityFibre has completed its acquisition of FibreNation from TalkTalk Group following shareholder approval. The acquisition of the full-fibre network builder enables CityFibre to increase its rollout ambition from 5 million to up to 8 million premises, supporting an investment programme of up to GBP 4 billion (US$ 4.94 billion). It will also help to accelerate the availability of full-fibre across the UK, a platform critical to social and economic recovery in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The completion also triggers TalkTalk’s onboarding as CityFibre’s latest major customer, making long-term commitments of both residential and business customers.

FibreNation was founded in 2018, four years after a joint venture between TalkTalk, Sky and CityFibre was launched to deploy full fibre infrastructure and services across the City of York. The FibreNation brand will remain in market and the company will continue to operate and expand its networks where nearly 60,000 premises can gain access to gigabit speed broadband services from TalkTalk. FibreNation has network construction projects underway in Harrogate and Dewsbury and has most recently announced Bolton as the next town to benefit from full fibre. The company is currently mobilising in both Knaresborough and Ripon, with plans to make full fibre available to up to 3 million homes and businesses.

CityFibre’s increased rollout plan to reach up to 8 million premises is expected to span more than 100 towns and cities, and is estimated to create up to 7,000 construction jobs outside London. To date, CityFibre has identified 62 towns and cities to benefit from its rollout and CityFibre has connected thousands of public sector sites including hospitals, GPs, schools and community venues.

TalkTalk Group will now begin a process of systems integration as part of long-term commitments across CityFibre’s existing and future network rollout, ensuring its customers can benefit from faster, more reliable connectivity at competitive prices. Taking advantage of the open-access nature of CityFibre’s growing national network, TalkTalk will begin planning for the future launch of its full-fibre services.