Nexfibre Networks Limited,

trading as Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. An early form of trade, barter, s ...

Nexfibre (stylised as nexfibre), is a British

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

network provider that operates a gigabit-capable FTTP broadband network across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It is a joint venture between

Infravia Capital Partners Infravia Capital Partners is an investment company based in Paris. It acquired a large stake in Next Generation Data, based in Newport, Wales for about £100 million in 2016, and two Swiss data center businesses, Green.ch and Green Datacenter, ...

and Opal Jvco Limited (the second joint venture between

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

and Telefónica, the first being

Virgin Media O2 Virgin Media O2 (legally incorporated as VMED O2 UK Limited) is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London, England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica th ...

). Nexfibre plans to offer open access wholesale provision of its network in the near-future, with

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

currently the only provider to connect customers using the network.

History

Company formation

The company was incorporated as Liberty Fibre Limited with Companies House in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2019, being a wholly-owned subsidiary of

. The company was later renamed to Liberty Networks Limited on 22 October 2019. On 21 December 2020, the control of the company was transferred to

, a joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica that brought two of the UK's largest telecommunications companies, O2 and

, together. The company was subsequently renamed to Virgin Networks Limited on 7 January 2021.

Liberty Global, Telefónica and Infravia joint venture

In July 2022, it was announced Liberty Global and Telefónica had formed a joint venture with

, with the partnership stated to be worth an initial £4.5 billion. It is the second joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica, whilst also being the second joint venture between Liberty Global and Infravia, with the companies having already teamed up to develop a similar fibre optic network in Germany. As a result of the partnership, Virgin Networks Limited was transferred to Opal Jvco Limited on 21 October 2022. Infravia, through subsidiary Crown Infra Bidco Limited, hold a 50% stake in the company whilst the remaining 50% is held by Opal Holdco Limited, the legal entity behind Liberty Global and Telefónica's joint venture. The company took on its current legal name of Nexfibre Networks Limited on 22 December 2022. The purpose of the joint venture is to fund the build of a fibre-to-the-property (FTTP) broadband network across the UK, with a focus on connecting premises that are not already served by VMO2's existing infrastructure. Nexfibre intends to have an initial five million premises connected to its network by 2026, with plans to connect an additional two million premises beyond 2026. Like

CityFibre CityFibre is an independent British telecommunications network provider, providing gigabit-capable FTTP broadband across the UK. They are the third-largest network provider in the UK, after Openreach and Virgin Media. It is considered one of the ...

, Nexfibre is aiming to provide open wholesale access to other internet service providers, with VMO2 being the first provider to use the network to connect customers. In addition to this, VMO2 is also assisting in the construction of the network, as well as providing technical support and expertise to support the rollout.

Network rollout

In June 2023, VMO2, Nexfibre's anchor wholesale client, launched commercial services using the company's XGS-PON full fibre network. VMO2 later launched a 2 Gbit/s package for eligible customers in February 2024. For an additional cost, the provider offers symmetrical download and upload speeds, making it the first major UK broadband provider to do so. It wasn't, however, the first broadband provider in the UK to offer a symmetric package above 2 Gbit/s, with

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

-based provider Yayzi offering a 2.3 Gbit/s service through the

network. At the time of launch, it was noted that the maximum speed falls short of what other altnets (alternative network providers) such as B4RN (10 Gbit/s), YouFibre (7 Gbit/s) and Community Fibre (3 Gbit/s) currently offer to consumers reached by their networks. On 17 July 2023, Nexfibre announced it had secured a £250 million commitment from the UK Infrastructure Bank to support its full fibre network rollout. The funds came in addition to £1.4 billion in equity commitments from its owners. On 6 September, it was announced that VMO2 had acquired altnet provider Upp in a move designed to expand Nexfibre's footprint by an additional 175,000 premises in the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

. As part of the acquisition, VMO2 will focus on completing Upp's build, as well as integrating and aligning the network before transferring it to Nexfibre. On 2 October, Rajiv Datta was appointed as the company's chief executive officer. Datta replaced interim CEO Bernardo Quinn, with Quinn taking a seat on the company's board. Datta had previously worked in the building and managing of large fibre-based networks at companies including

Colt Technology Services Colt Technology Services Group Limited (formerly COLT Telecom Group S.A.) is a multinational telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Ind ...

and

AboveNet AboveNet was a provider of high bandwidth telecommunication circuits primarily for large corporate enterprises and communications carriers in 17 markets in the United States and 4 markets in Europe. Its private optical network delivered key network ...

. At the time of Datta's appointment, it was revealed Nexfibre had passed more than 500,000 premises. The following month, in November, the company unveiled its "nationwide rollout plan", with the initial rollout primarily focusing on areas in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and Durham in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and areas in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

also included. In a podcast interview with

Zen Internet Zen Internet is an Internet service provider (ISP) based in Rochdale, England. History Zen was founded in 1995 by Richard Tang (then Managing Director, now Chairman) after a drink in the pub, Zen Internet was one of the first ISPs in the United ...

's founder Richard Tang in February 2024, Datta claimed the company will connect more homes to full fibre in the UK than any other altnet in 2024, including rival provider CityFibre, utilising the expertise of VMO2 in a period many altnets are slowing down due to operational difficulties.

Network milestones

As of November 2023, Nexfibre had passed 559,000 premises as part of its full fibre network rollout. It plans to reach five million premises by 2026, with a scope to expand to an additional two million premises beyond 2026.

Wholesale access

Like Openreach and

, Nexfibre operates solely as a telecommunications network provider, meaning customers must go through an

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

in order to get services that use the network. However, as of February 2024, Virgin Media O2 is the sole wholesale partner of the company. In an interview with Richard Tang, founder and CEO of

, Nexfibre CEO Datta, in reference to his company opening up its network to wholesale access, stated: "''We've got a few I.T. systems activities that are ongoing, which we expect will be complete within the coming months that will allow us to actually physically bring customers

SPs SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

on to the network''." Zen, an ISP currently operating on the networks of CityFibre and Openreach, have confirmed they intend to become a wholesale client upon the platform's launch.

Wholesale partners

References

External links

* {{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Internet service providers of the United Kingdom Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in London Telecommunications companies established in 2019 2019 establishments in England British companies established in 2019 Joint ventures Liberty Global Telefónica British subsidiaries of foreign companies