Full Fibre UK Operator ITS Technology Acquires Nextgenaccess

The ITS Technology Group, which manages 36 wholesale full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks across urban parts of the UK for businesses and ISPs (aka – “Faster Britain“), has today announced that they’ve completed the acquisition of dark fibre specialist NextGenAccess Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

NextGenAccess – part funded by Amber Infrastructure – is a neutral host, managed fibre infrastructure service provider that has spent millions deploying a 10Gbps capable and business-focused fibre optic network across various locations, such as – most recently – between Bristol and South Wales.

Overall, today’s deal will see ITS add 455km of dark fibre across the Greater London, Newport, and South Essex areas to complement their existing full fibre footprint, which is currently still said to be “on track to pass 25% (c.500,000) of UK business premises by the end of this year.” But the latter figure may include some of their older fixed wireless networks too.

The acquisition will also allow ITS to grow its presence in the data centre connectivity marketplace. As a provider of ‘trunk’ connectivity, NextGenAccess is said to have “high levels of trust alongside high standards of delivery in this space“, which is seen as a key growth area for ITS.

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS Technology Group, said:

“NextGenAccess is an extremely capable and exciting business with a very talented team that I am delighted to welcome onboard. There are significant synergies between our two businesses. In addition to the fibre assets in the ground and portfolio of solutions, the experience that this team will bring to ITS will allow us to substantially bolster our dark fibre credentials. This will allow us to deepen our relationships with carriers, telecom operators, service providers, and resellers. This will also further accelerate our full fibre rollout and reach as we play our part in creating a Gigabit Britain.

We’re excited to expand our own data centre offering by developing NextGenAccess’ existing proposition in the space, as well as opening new opportunities on the network to deliver Layer 2 and 3 services to our partner community.

The acquisition of NextGenAccess adds depth to the innovative and business enhancing services we offer to our partners and their customers, cementing our place as one of the leading wholesale fibre providers in the UK. I’m really excited for this next phase of our business.”

Mark Weller, MD of NextGenAccess, said:

“Following a successful period of growth, backed by Amber Infrastructure since 2018, the time is right to take the next step and allow our partners and their customers to benefit from our significant joint capability and experience in the full fibre market. We are all very pleased that the ITS values and culture are extremely close to those already present within NextGenAccess which should make the integration of the businesses seamless.”

I am looking forward to being part of the ITS team and further helping the group to develop and deliver a leading full fibre portfolio.”

The acquisition will apparently also “kickstart” the operator’s “build and buy” strategy following its second round Aviva Investors infrastructure funding, which secured a further £100m in April this year. In other words, we can expect them to gobble up other dark fibre style networks and operators in the future.