Axione Aims to Cover 4 Million UK Premises with Gigabit Broadband

Back in 2019 we reported that a subsidiary of French communications provider Axione S.A.S, Axione UK, planned to rollout a wholesale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network for ISPs to harness in the UK (here). The operator has now setup a new company, Axione Fibre, to do exactly that with £300m of initial funding.

At this point the UK market is already awash with alternative network (AltNet) providers (Summary of Full Fibre Build Progress), but that doesn’t seem to have dampened Axione’s resolve. Supported by its shareholders – Bouygues Energies & Services and Vauban Infrastructure Partners – Axione Fibre will target build for both sub-urban and rural areas.

Under the plan, the new company will design, build and operate a wholesale full-fibre network. Based on an open access network model, Axione Fibre acts as a wholesale-only operator partnering with internet service providers, integrators, operators and channel partners to offer ultrafast broadband services to end-users.

Some £300m has already been raised (equity) for the first phase of this “large-scale project,” which aims to reach 4 million premises throughout the UK. But at the time of writing, there’s no mention of a clear rollout plan or timescale.

Dominique Astier, MD of Axione UK, said:

“Full-fibre networks are essential infrastructure to deliver digital services to all residential, corporate and public sector premises. Axione is delighted to partner with Vauban to create Axione Fibre, a large scale FTTP pure wholesale operator targeting small towns and villages across the UK.”

Pierre Vanstoflegatte, MD of the Bouygues Construction Energies & Services Division and President of Axione, said:

“Having proved the strength of its model in France, Axione is leveraging its expertise in the UK, a key market in the development strategy of Bouygues Construction’s energy and services division, through Axione Fibre. In all the countries in which we operate, we want to do more to deliver essential resources to local and regional communities, helping them to forge their future. Digital infrastructure forms the basis of this value-creating digital transformation.”

The move is the first significant UK development that we’ve seen from Axione / Axione UK since they secured a Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) contract in Aberdeenshire a couple of years ago. The operator also expressed a serious interest in Scotland’s R100 procurement, but that contract ultimately went to BT (Openreach).

At the end of the day, Axione UK may face a difficult challenge in a market that is already chocked full of AltNets and quite a few of which will end up overbuilding each other. Nevertheless, Axione is the sort of company with the right experience, funding and drive to actually make good on their promises, unlike some others. Time will tell, and what we need right now is a little more detail.