ISP Hyperoptic Appoints New UK Boss of Full Fibre Infrastructure

Urban focused fibre optic broadband ISP Hyperoptic has today continued to build its new executive team by appointing Moray Falconer, an experienced civil engineer, to be its new Managing Director (MD) of Infrastructure. Falconer will report directly to CEO Dana Tobak.

At present Hyperoptic’s 1Gbps capable ultrafast “full fibre” (FTTP/B) network is said to cover well over 500,000 UK premises in parts of multiple UK “Hyper Cities” (due to reach 50+ cities and towns by Q1 2019). The network typically targets large residential or office buildings in dense urban areas (e.g. Multi-Dwelling Units with at least 50 units), which are very cost effective to upgrade.

However over the past couple of years the provider has managed to raise an investment pot of £500m, which will be used to help expand their 1Gbps capable broadband network to cover 2 million homes by the end of 2021 (here) and then possibly 5 million by 2024 (more investment will probably be needed to hit the 5 million aspiration).

In keeping with that they’ve also been busy building a new executive team to oversee this work and Moray, who has some 20 years of experience in delivering major infrastructure projects, is the latest addition.

Dana Tobak, CEO of Hyperoptic, said:

“Moray joins our new Exec team because of his record in infrastructure delivery. His experience will be invaluable to support us to successfully fast-track the build of our premier full fibre national network.”

Moray Falconer, Hyperoptic’s MD of Infrastructure, said:

“Delivering the next generation of broadband across the UK is a huge opportunity to create a lasting legacy, so I couldn’t turn it down. I will be looking to lead the company in the national expansion of our capacity to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of our network. It’s a huge undertaking but one that I am confident we can deliver and set industry best practice.”

Moray will also be responsible for leading the ISP’s plan to extend their deployment via over 5,000 kilometres metro fibre network using Duct and Pole Access (DPA) by 2021. This is the regulated name that Ofcom has given to the process of allowing rival ISPs to access Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and telegraph poles in order to run their own fibres (aka – Physical Infrastructure Access).

The initial cities to benefit from this DPA approach include Greater London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Leeds in 2019. A further 10 cities to be covered in 2020 will be announced in the second half of 2019. Hyperoptic hopes that this work will broaden their reach to include smaller apartment blocks / buildings, housing and businesses.