CityFibre continues altnet strategy with new acquisition

According to a press release, the share-based acquisition will see previous Lit Fibre owners Newlight Partners become minority shareholders in CityFibre. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

A spokesperson for CityFibre said: “Lit is a vertically integrated altnet, comprising a network builder and internet service provider. It has a current footprint of over 200,000 premises across more than 20 towns in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex and Suffolk. It serves a rapidly growing subscriber base of more than 9,000 retail customers.”

The spokesperson continued: “The acquisition of Lit is the first of several deals CityFibre expects to close over the next two years, and follows [its] decision to pursue altnet acquisitions as a strategic growth driver towards - and potentially beyond - its eight million premises target.”

Lit Fibre has a “significant and complementary network footprint [to CityFibre]", using compatible 10Gbps XGS-PON network architecture.

Chief executive officer at CityFibre, Greg Mesch, said: “Our self-build rollout programme has already delivered more than 3.5 million premises to our partners, and we’re excited to accelerate this even faster through targeted acquisitions like Lit Fibre.