Toob Extend FTTP Broadband Availability to 6 New UK Cities and Towns

Hampshire-based network builder and ISP toob, which has deployed a gigabit speed full fibre (FTTP) network across parts of South England, have today announced that they’ve expanded the availability of their services – under a strategic partnership with CityFibre – to include Lincoln, Loughborough, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Peterborough and Derby.

Just to recap. Toob is currently being financed through equity from funds managed and advised by the Amber Infrastructure Group, as well as a huge amount of debt financing provided by Ares Management’s Infrastructure Debt (here). At the end of 2023 this mix of equity and debt reflected a total commitment of £395m.

However, as mentioned earlier, toob both builds their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure and holds a complementary network partnership with CityFibre to help expand their coverage (CF also gains reciprocal access to harness toob’s network). The announcement of an expansion into Lincoln, Loughborough, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Peterborough and Derby thus reflects that partnership, rather than toob’s own network build.

Nick Parbutt, CEO of toob, said:

“I am delighted to bring toob’s full-fibre broadband service to the residents of Lincoln, Loughborough, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Peterborough and Derby . For too long customers have been taken for granted by their broadband suppliers, with poor service and above inflationary price increases.

toob is focused on what customers really need, fast, reliable broadband at an affordable price. toob provides customers all the benefits of ultrafast broadband with speeds of 900 Mbps for only £29 per month. Our service is delivered through our partnership with CityFibre using the latest full-fibre technology, which is the most reliable technology available.”

The announcement, which will see toob’s availability being expanded to reach “tens of thousands of [additional] homes“, comes shortly after they published their latest annual accounts to the end of 2023, which among other things revealed that they’re aiming to “largely complete the current phase of expansion of its network to 300,000 premises … during 2024.” But it’s unclear whether this reflects their own network build or the combined reach with CityFibre.

Toob’s accounts also reported an operating loss of £19.48m (2022: £13.57m), capex of £38.68m (2022: £26.39m), revenue of £5.5m (2022: £2.16m) and total liabilities of £214.7m (2022: £139.6m).