Community Fibre attracts funding for full fibre project

London-based internet service provider Community Fibre has secured some GBP18m in funding from the National Digital Infrastructure Fund (NDIF), which is backed by the UK government.

Community Fibre intends to ensure that half a million homes in the capital have access to 1Gbps full fibre broadband connection by 2022. Most of the premises targeted by the project are social housing. The funding from the NDIF follows a further GBP11.3m provided by private equity investor Railpen.

The ISP says it is well on target to deliver the ultra-fast connections to 100,000 homes by 2019.

The NDIF was established in 2016 with the intention of helping to establish 5G and full fibre broadband in the UK. The scheme was started with an investment of GBP400m of public money and this is the first significant investment made by the scheme.

Community Fibre’s Jeremy Chelot, stated: “This funding takes us a step closer to have our full-fibre network available to social housing or private landlords in every borough in London.”

At the moment, only around 3-4 per cent of UK homes have access to a full fibre broadband connection, although there are plans for many more to be connected in the coming years.

Railpen’s Head of Private Markets, Paul Bishop, added: “We are pleased to welcome NDIF’s significant new investment in Community Fibre. As Community Fibre’s largest shareholder, we believe that It will continue to be a success and help us generate the returns that we need to meet our mission to pay members’ pensions, securely, affordably and sustainably.”

A government spokesperson added: "We want to see full fibre broadband rolled out across the UK as quickly as possible and to support a competitive private sector in delivering that objective. That’s why we created the Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, which is boosting the rollout of full fibre to enable people to live and work flexibly and productively, without connections failing.”