Rural UK Broadband ISP Voneus Pick New Boss to Lead Gigabit Rollout

UK ISP Voneus, which is busy deploying both gigabit-capable Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks across rural parts of England and Wales, has decided to replace their current CEO and co-founder – Steve Leighton – with a new boss in the shape of Christopher Traggio.

The provider currently has a “near term” plan to cover 100,000 homes in rural areas with their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (here), although in 2022 they claimed to have “identified” a total over 200,000 premises that could potentially be upgraded via either their FTTP or FWA solutions. But so far they’ve covered a total of over 10,000 properties across England and Wales (up from 7,100 a year ago) and were planning to reach 20,000 by March 2023.

As part of that plan, Voneus has now appointed Christopher Traggio to be its new CEO. Chris was formerly CEO of Belgian-based full-service operator VOO, where he oversaw the rollout of a ‘Giga Speed’ service to rural areas and agreed a €1.8 billion sale of the business to Orange Belgium. On top of that, he has also held senior positions at AT&T, Orange, and Liberty Global – reflecting a career in telecoms that has spanned 20 years’.

Meanwhile, Steve Leighton will be stepping into his new role as Chairman, where he will continue to support the business as it grows.

Oliver Bradley, Macquarie Capital, said:

“Macquarie has been supporting Voneus since 2019. In that time the business has transitioned from a fixed wireless supplier to one that can deploy future-proofed, ultrafast fibre broadband across the British countryside, bringing an end to poor broadband services for many rural communities. This is testament to Steve Leighton’s efforts both inside Voneus and as part of the ISPA.

Together with our partners, the Israel Infrastructure Fund, we look forward to working with Christopher Traggio, who brings a vast amount of experience, and will help accelerate the future growth of the business – helping the UK government to meet its 2030 broadband ambitions.”

Steve Leighton, CEO of Voneus Broadband, said:

“We are very excited to have Christopher join the team. He brings fantastic experience and a proven track record of delivery in the sector. To have an individual with Christopher’s strengths join us speaks volumes for what we are building at Voneus – it validates our progress as a business and also our importance and potential in the market.”

Now all we need is some solid details on their future rollout plan.