Consolidation in the UK’s growing independent full fibre sector with the acquisition by CityFibre of smaller rival Connexin.
The agreement includes built and work in progress fibre network assets, as well as a new Project Gigabit contract, and enables the expansion of CityFibre’s nationwide footprint by up to 185,000 premises across Hull and East Riding.
As part of the deal Connexin’s shareholder, PATRIZIA’s European Infrastructure Fund II, will become a minority shareholder in CityFibre.
CityFibre will also take on Connexin’s Project Gigabit contract to rollout gigabit-capable broadband to over 34,000 hard-to-reach premises in Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire. This will become the tenth Project Gigabit delivery contract secured by CityFibre and will unlock a future expansion to over 50,000 non-subsidised premises in the target regions.
Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said: “Connexin has built an outstanding network and it’s a brilliant fit for CityFibre. Our mature wholesale model will now bring Hull’s homes and businesses increased choice and access to unrivalled connectivity products, services and prices. After our rapid integration of Lit Fibre’s network, we have demonstrated that this is an effective way to expand our footprint and we look forward to playing an active role in the sector’s accelerating consolidation in 2025.”
CityFibre will immediately begin integrating Connexin’s XGS-PON network and expects to complete the integration later this year, further extending its nationwide network which already passes more than 4.4 million premises, the largest of the alt nets.
“The next phase of our growth is tremendously exciting as we accelerate our focus on expanding our Smarter Home, Business, Enterprise, Public Sector and Utilities products and services across the UK, enabling these rapidly evolving markets to achieve ambitious goals through adopting smarter technology,” said Furqan Alamgir, CEO of Connexin.
Connexin will now expand nationwide, across CityFibre’s network, and build on its success in Internet of Things (IoT), including rolling out one of the UK’s largest LoRaWAN (long range wide-area) networks and winning contracts for over 2 million smart water meters.
In May 2024, CityFibre acquired Lit Fibre, which was fully integrated in less than nine months.
