Freedom Fibre Complete VX FIBER Merger, Grows UK FTTP to 300K Premises
Alternative broadband operator Freedom Fibre has today announced the completion of their recent merger with InfraBridge-backed VX UK Holdings ltd (VXFIBER). The combined coverage of their open access Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network is now 300,000 premises (up from 285k in Dec 2023).
Just to recap. VXFIBER had a number of full fibre deployments across the Staffordshire cities and towns of Stoke-on-Trent (here), Leek (here), Cannock and Penkridge (here), as well as Colchester in Essex (here), parts of London (via Prime Fibre), Haverhill in Suffolk (here), Crewe and Nantwich in Cheshire (here), and some projects in Bristol and Uttoxeter. Consumers accessed most of these via ISP LilaConnect.
However, last year saw VXFIBER’s operations in the UK being hit by a spate of redundancies, with the company “pausing further deployment to focus on commercialising the fibre already laid” (here). Like many other players in this sector, the operator had come under pressure from rising build costs, competition and high interest rates that made it difficult to raise fresh investment.
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The newly merged business will now operate as Freedom Fibre Limited (FFL) and continues to be run by Neil McArthur (Freedom Fibre’s founder and CEO), as well as the current FFL senior leadership team. TalkTalk, which has been a minority shareholder in Freedom Fibre since 2021, remains a shareholder in the combined business.
Freedom Fibre’s CEO, Neil McArthur, said:
“This strategic merger leverages the strengths of both Freedom Fibre and VX UK to create a larger, stronger, and more diverse business backed by two significant investors with ambitions for growth. We are delighted to be joining forces with the VX team and are hugely excited about the future potential of the newly combined business.”
At this stage we still don’t know how much money changed hands as part of the deal, but it’s worth noting that today’s news only reflects the completion of the merger agreement. Freedom Fibre will next have to focus on the complicated and often costly task of integrating VX and LilaConnect into their existing operations.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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If only they had a simple availability checker or proper coverage map
Couldn’t agree more apparently it was due early march and still waiting how embarrassing to not even have one absolute joke of a company imo
What do Freedom Fibre and Netomnia have in common?
Neither have delivered to Wrexham.
Although at least FF aren’t pretending to
FFs map includes Wrexham
I guess if you dislike them that much you’ll have no interest in taking their service when it arrives?
They’ve stated the problems here and elsewhere with Wrexham’s build and what they’re doing to sort it. Leveraging them into some random news article to moan isn’t going to get their new contractor up to speed and building faster.
Couldn’t agree more apparently it was due early march and still waiting how embarrassing to not even have one absolute joke of a company imo
If you want committed delivery dates probably best to get a business grade service with service level agreements.