Nexfibre, the joint venture between Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia Capital Partners, has acquired the fibre operator Upp.
Based in Peterborough, the altnet serves homes in the East of England and the East Midlands including Boston, Lincoln, Norwich and King’s Lynn.
“Our acquisition of Upp’s network assets represents an important step as we continue to build a world-class fibre network along with our wholesale partner Virgin Media O2,” said Andrea Salvato, chairman, nexfibre.
The all-cash deal is in two stages. Liberty subsidiary Virgin Media O2 will initially purchase Upp and carry out integration work – this includes aligning systems, completing in-progress fibre build and offering VMO2 services to Upp’s 4,000 customers. nexfibre will ultimately fund the acquisition through a back-to-back agreement to buy and own Upp’s network assets which will amount to 175,000 premises. The integration work should be completed within the next 12 months.
As a result of the transaction, nexfibre will gain a quality regional fibre network with a low overlap of the existing Virgin Media O2 footprint and the infrastructure to continue development in the region. VM02 will continue to expand its network in the East of England with an expected investment upwards of £350 million to reach more than 500,000 premises by 2026.
Said Drew Ritchie, CEO, Upp: “Since we began in early 2021, Upp has grown to deliver the quality, scale and excellence in customer service envisaged from the start. We are all personally very proud of having this recognised by our thousands of customers and through the purchase by industry leaders.
Upp, formerly known as FibreMe, was founded in 2021 by a group of British entrepreneurs with extensive telecoms experience.
