AllPoints Fibre Networks Announce Mark Walker as UK CEO as Ronan Kelly Exits
Alternative broadband operator AllPoints Fibre Networks (APFN), which is backed by Fern Trading, has today announced that Mark Walker has been appointed to be the company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). At the same time their existing Managing Director, Ronan Kelly, will be leaving at the end of May to pursue a new opportunity.
Ronan was first appointed to the role of MD back in April 2024, a post he took on after previously becoming a familiar industry name at ADTRAN. Since then, he’s led the business through the launch and growth of their new aquila wholesale platform, but will now be moving on to pastures new.
Meanwhile, Mark Walker joins as CEO, formally in role from 1st June 2026, following a handover with Ronan. Mark brings more than 25 years’ experience across reseller and wholesale channels — including building key functions at Virtual1 through to its sale to TalkTalk, Commercial Director of TalkTalk’s B2B Wholesale business, and founding Chief Commercial Officer at PXC. He joined Fern in 2025 as MD for Commercial Strategy & Performance, supporting APFN and Vorboss.
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In addition, APFN has made another leadership change today, with James Hickman joining as Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) from 18th May. James brings telecoms experience in senior technology and product roles, most recently consulting across the Fern group since November 2025.
Mark Walker, Incoming APFN CEO, said:
“I’m excited to be joining APFN at this pivotal point in its journey. I’d like to thank Ronan and his team for their stewardship of APFN to date; the platform is seriously impressive, delivering a fibre-first, legacy- free choice to partners across multiple networks. aquila delivers stability and optionality through one single API interface. The opportunity ahead is significant. I am looking forward to working with the new leadership team and taking APFN through its next phase of growth.”
Nisreen El-kaloush and Nigel Sudell remain in post as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Operating Officer respectively, and Adam Dunlop remains as Executive Chairman.
Now if APFN could just get around to the task of making their own on-net FTTP network available again to new retail broadband customers.. (here).
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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APFN’s unavailable network in Leyburn, North Yorkshire is currently being overbuilt by Quickline as part of their Project Gigabit deployment…
Let’s see if Mr Walker can make any sense of this clown show.
2021-APFN/Fern/Octopus Investments announce they are to integrate the networks of Giganet, Jurassic, Swish & APFN’s own Network In April 2025
April 2025 Fern invested another £150m into APFN to assist with the above integration
May 2025 APFN launch Aquila and celebrate at a private function at Ascott, it took 9 months to launch Aquila
Sonalake 13/05/2026 – ‘We have a vested interest as APFN’s software platform partner & will report further as Aquila is unveiled
18/06/2025 Jarleth Finnegan (CEO of APFN) announces the completion of the integration of the 4 Networks
One year further on and no-one can place an order onto the APFN fibre assets, how many millions of investors money has been spent since 2021, how much just in the last 12 months alone?
Yet within the Fern Portfolio, there was a software company, Vitrifi, a company which could have assisted APFN to be able to monetise their asset’s, the assets which have been sitting in the ground with no revenue since 2021!
However, the decision was made not to use their proven technology, to make everyone from that business redundant and plough more millions into APFN via Aquila & Sonalake to produce zero results to date !
Who made that decision, APFN, Octopus Investments, Fern? Whoever made the decision, were the investors aware, I am guessing not, it was insanity Vitrifi had already built a Technical Demonstrator Network !
Then to today’s announcement, another CEO appointed to APFN in addition another CTO, welcome on board gents, do you think you may be able to monetise the asset’s which have been sitting dormant for at least 5 years Even if you do, how long do you think it will take to recuperate £600 millon and start to go into profit ?
Wider question, how can The Chief Commercial Officer & The Chief Operating Officer remain in situ ?
I worked for Giganet from 2021-2022 and i can tell you from 1st hand experience, they didnt have a clue then and they still dont have a clue now. The name may have changed but its still the same. Amazed their still in business.
Vitrifi was smoke and mirrors. Bright ideas, but it didn’t work.
The latest Fern Fibre Trading annual report at Companies House states no profits likely for at least 3 years.
It’s the investors I feel sorry for. Well, I would if it wasn’t all an IHT avoidance scheme. Still, at least they get consistently 2-3% pa returns (below the stated target, which I’m sure used to be 4% but is now 3%), so the schadenfreude is good.
How any IFA could recommend the Octopus Inheritance Tax service is quite beyond me. How many years need to pass before the low returns mean your estate would have more value if you invested wisely but paid IHT?? I had to bite my tongue when one of my acquaintances said he had funds there.
Adam Dunlop – Exec Chair – recently at TalkTalk
Mark Waker – CEO – recently at PXC, TalkTalk Wholesale Services and Virtual 1
Paul Hickman – CTO – recently at PXC, TalkTalk Wholesale Services and Virtual1
Nigel Suddel – COO – previously at Fibre Nation and TalkTalk
Nisreen El Kaloush – CCO – only exec member not previously employed by the TalkTalk Telecoms Group
tbc – CFO – any potential ex TalkTalk group employee lurking?
We all remember Octopus declaring loudly at INCA meetings how “Telco was just another utility like Energy”. When the whole Telco industry knew that ISP broadband is far more difficult and complex to operate than an electrical service. Yet today Allpoints Fibre Networks still can’t find their network build to connect a single broadband customer on a supposed 500k ready for service footprint? Why is Ofcom letting APFN get away brazen misrepresentation when a commercial stop-sell is in plain sight of all the honest UK AltNets? Because in Marlow at Mum’s house, she still cannot connect to Swish fibre in 2026 when both her neighbour’s received FTTP services back in 2022 on a network where they dug up her cobblestone in 2020 and Openreach/Virgin have still not built it.. This is definitely not B-Corp behaviour, from Octopus, and all of the UK regulators have completely ignored these terrible antics.
“Now if APFN could just get around to the task of making their own on-net FTTP network available again to new retail broadband customers..”
Now that’s the key question. I’m baffled that they invested £millions in a fibre network (and future-proofed it with e.g. XGS-PON!) only to refuse to take customer money. I’d like to sign up with Olilo (for e.g. the IPv6 support that Cuckoo seem to struggle with!), but…
I think Olilo are now doing most of their business through Zen’s Fibre Hub & you can’t blame them really.
Apparently the chief people officer, group procurement director and another director have also been let go from the company….. sinking ship comes to mind.
Hmmmm, certainly not the “Uber of UK’s Full FIbre Wholesale Networks” as their previous CEO once claimed?
How is this company still going. Absolute shambles