Full Fibre ISP Telcom Acquires Infrastructure Services Firm SDH

Manchester-based UK ISP Telcom, which has active plans to roll-out a gigabit-capable “full fibre” and broadband network to cover various homes and businesses across the North West of England and Midlands, has acquired the Yorkshire-based infrastructure firm SDH Project Services for an undisclosed sum.

At present Telcom already have some fibre networks in Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and London. Most of that has been focused on connecting businesses and public sector sites via Dark Fibre infrastructure, but they’ve also connected some big residential apartment buildings (MDUs) via their sub-brands, such as Black Fibre and Velocity Fibre.

The plan in 2020, assuming the challenges created by COVID-19 can be overcome, is to bring “affordable [open access] fibre connectivity” to more of the North West and Midlands. As part of that the operator has just announced a strategic investment in telecoms and fibre infrastructure company, SDH Project Services (SDH).

SDH is said to be an expert in delivering “large scale telecommunications infrastructure projects and fibre infrastructure monitoring solutions,” which would obviously be handy for an operator like Telcom and their future network expansion.

Christopher Baldock, Telcom’s Chairman, said:

“I am delighted that we have been able to bring SDH Project Services within the Telcom group. We shall be working with the team, our key suppliers and customers in order to scale up our capacity as rapidly as possible.”

Colin Brown, Managing Director of SDH, added:

“I believe this is a major step forward for the company. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our suppliers and customers for their support to date and look forward to working with you in the next phase of our company.”

As a result of this announcement the Joint CEO of Telcom Group, Doug Ward, will also head the infrastructure division which SDH Project Services now falls under with Joint CEO, Shaun Gibson, driving from the Group’s Manchester headquarters.