Speed Fibre Group Complete Acquisition of BT’s Irish Wholesale Fibre and B2B Unit

The Speed Fibre Group, which is an open access fibre infrastructure provider (managing or owning 5,400km of fibre) that is ultimately backed by Cordiant Capital, has today announced that they’ve completed the previously announced (here) acquisition of BT’s Irish wholesale fibre and enterprise business unit (BT Communications Ireland Ltd.).

The acquisition includes BTCIL’s domestic network infrastructure (c.3,400km network of owned and operated fibre), co-location facilities, wholesale and enterprise customer base (over 400), and the internal teams supporting them. These operations will now be integrated into Speed Fibre Group’s two brands: Enet, serving wholesale customers, and Magnet+, serving enterprise businesses.

The deal also comprises a long-term agreement for BT and Speed Fibre Group to source connectivity for their respective customers from each other, which supports BT’s desire to “retain a strong presence in the Irish market to deliver connectivity, cloud and security services to multinationals and large organisations“.

Post-transaction, BT still expects to maintain over 400 employees in Ireland, with offices in Dublin and regionally, and connections to BT’s global network infrastructure and propositions. The deal does NOT include BTCIL’s customer base of multinationals, large Irish organisations, the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS), associated employees, and the recently divested data centre business.

Statement by Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited

The acquisition of BTCIL enhances Speed Fibre’s ability to deliver advanced connectivity solutions through the integration of BTCIL’s complementary capabilities and domestic customer base. By combining resources, Speed Fibre expects to achieve greater operational efficiencies and deliver a broader range of connectivity products and services for customers across Ireland, supporting the growing requirements of hyperscale and edge data centres, multi-nationals, local Irish businesses, and government agencies.

The expanded network will be well placed to support the increasing capacity needed to underpin the rapid uptake in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This addition to the Speed Fibre platform represents a significant step in CORD’s strategy to build platforms at scale in line with its Buy, Build & Grow model in key digital markets such as Ireland.

Following the transaction, Speed Fibre Group’s network now extends to nearly 10,000km of fibre, connecting 94 towns and cities, and over 6,000 buildings including more than 2,500 in Dublin and key urban centres. This strengthened footprint is said to position Enet as “Ireland’s second-largest wholesale telecoms operator, enabling faster service delivery and providing real competition in the marketplace“.

UPDATE 10:44am

We’ve had a comment from the Speed Fibre Group.

Peter McCarthy, CEO of Speed Fibre Group, said:

“We are delighted to announce that BT Communications Ireland Limited is now officially part of Speed Fibre Group, marking an exciting transformational milestone for our business. Uniting BTCIL and Speed Fibre Group combines market heritage, knowledge and scale, and also restores badly needed competition in the telecommunications space at a national level. By bringing together two leaders in the market, we will unlock greater scale, deeper building connectivity, and the ability to offer customers nationwide increased choice, better value, expanded reach and service excellence.

Importantly, this acquisition also aligns with our long-term plans to future proof Ireland’s telecommunications landscape and support Ireland’s growing digital economy. Our next-generation infrastructure is designed to support high volume and decentralised data flows essential for sectors like AI, pharma, and cloud services who require fast, reliable, and scalable connectivity.”

We will continue to focus on delivering robust and innovative connectivity solutions for businesses and communities across the country to meet Ireland’s growing digital demands.”