CTG Invests GBP125m to Upgrade 700K UK Homes to Full Fibre

The Complete Technology Group (CTG), which manages and audits broadband installations on behalf of landlords, has secured an investment of £125 million from InfraRed Capital Partners (InfraRed) to help them improve fibre optic connectivity in over 700,000 homes across the United Kingdom.

CTG is a fairly new organisation that was established during the COVID-19 pandemic by a group of infrastructure experts with the aim of improving fibre optic connectivity to poorly served communities, including multi-occupancy, social and new-build housing, whilst at the same time aiming to improve installation standards and accountability, and reducing the risk of fire.

The aim of the new investment, which is sourced from the InfraRed Infrastructure Fund V, is to enable the company to work with social and private landlords and developers, including local authorities and housing associations, to provide multiple fibres in a single installation that can serve an entire building. This is called their ‘Complete Fibre‘ solution.

The Stated Benefits of Complete Fibre

➤ Landlords gain a single multi-fibre installation at no cost to them. This improves safety and provides gigabit-enabled future-proofed buildings, all with a reduced carbon footprint;

➤ Residents gain fast reliable broadband, a greater choice of provider, and less disruption; and

➤ Broadband ISPs obtain easier access to homes, reduced risk and the ability to speed up deployment.

CTG expects to hire around 100 people over the next few weeks and months to help make all this a reality.

Eddie Minshull, CEO of Complete Technology Group, said:

“We are delighted to have secured this major investment from InfraRed, which allows us to accelerate our delivery and bring about positive change to tenants, landlords and the telecommunications sector.

We will be working with landlords to help them improve fibre connectivity in their buildings in a safe, reliable and accountable way, while reducing fire and safety risks to their buildings.

We will apply the highest safety standards. Broadband providers will be able to access homes more easily, reduce their risk, and up-scale their operations, while residents will get a greater choice of provider and less disruption. It is a win-win-win all round.”

Stephane Kofman, Director of Infrastructure at InfraRed, said:

“Modern digital infrastructure is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. High quality fibre optic infrastructure has a key role to play in accelerating digital inclusion.

InfraRed’s partnership with CTG will facilitate the creation of a high-quality fibre optic network, delivering connections to poorly-served communities and giving more people access to reliable broadband than ever before, while raising safety standards during the installation process.

Fibre optics is a scalable and power-efficient form of technology, which contributes significantly to the UK and EU’s climate goals, and this investment reflects InfraRed’s commitment to continuing to invest in sustainable community assets, which support the modern economy.”

Just to be clear, CTG aren’t a broadband ISP, and they don’t intend to build their own end-to-end Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network like so many other alternative networks. Instead, the focus seems to be around upgrading properties under their banner in order to make it easier for FTTP providers from different networks to link into them. At least that’s how we read it, but the announcement is light on detail.

Amberside Capital is understood to have helped CTG to secure the investment by spending several months on helping to develop its business plan and create a data room of information for investors, before running a funding competition.