CommunityFibre Aim FTTP Broadband for 2.2 Million London Homes

London-focused UK ISP CommunityFibre (CF), which has already covered 435,000 premises with their 3Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, has today announced a huge increase in their rollout plan that will see them extend to cover 2.2 million homes in London by the end of 2024.

Until today the provider, which also owns Box Broadband – covering parts of Surrey and West Sussex (here), had previously planned to cover 400,000 premises across London by the end of 2021 (achieved on-time) and then 1 million UK premises by the end of 2023.

However, today’s announcement extends and accelerates the aforementioned ambition to reach 2.2 million homes by the end of 2024, which is more than half of all the homes in the city (3.6 million). Interestingly, there’s no mention of any new funding being secured for this in today’s announcement, but they certainly aren’t short of money.

The operator originally started life with an initial investment pot of around £90m from private investors (e.g. Amber Infrastructure and RPMI Railpen), including Government backed schemes, although this was boosted by £400m in 2020 thanks to global equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC and management group DTCP.

Off the back of their full fibre broadband rollout, in the last year, CF has also hired more than 300 employees and there are now more than 1,000 people employed in their supply chain (i.e. by network build and other partners).

Graeme Oxby, CEO of Community Fibre, said:

“The last two years have been a challenge for everyone, which is why it is more important than ever that we are focused on giving the communities in London the connectivity they need. We have seen significant progress in our roll-out and will be continuing to ramp this up in the next three years, bringing our 100% full fibre broadband to almost two thirds of London’s citizens and businesses.

We are working closely with landlords and councils to install better broadband across London and we have increased our commitment to making London gigabit-capable. And by putting our fibre network through the existing ducts under London’s streets and pavements rather than digging trenches, our build is less disruptive than that of some other operators for residents and road users alike. Community is at the heart of everything we do. Everyone deserves fast, high-quality broadband at affordable prices.”

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, added:

“I welcome Community Fibre’s additional investment in our digital infrastructure, which will give Londoners faster internet speeds and support new jobs and growth. It forms part of wider plans led by my Digital Inclusion Taskforce to bridge the digital divide through reliable and affordable connectivity, access to devices, and skills training.”

New customers typically pay from £20 per month on a 24-month term (£22.50 post-contract) for their unlimited 50Mbps (symmetric speed) package with free setup and a free router, which rises to just £25 per month (£49 post-contract) for their 920Mbps service. A faster 3Gbps package also exists for those with deeper pockets.

Currently, the ISP operates in the following London boroughs: Barnet, Brent, Bexley, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Westminster.