Oxfordshire-based alternative full fibre operator Zzoomm, which has deployed their 2Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 202,000 premises (RFS) in England, has reportedly accelerated their plans for an M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) drive with the appointment of Acuity Advisors to help identify prospective deals.
Just to recap. Zzoomm’s network, which is home to 30,000 customers (c.15% take-up), is currently present across around 29 market towns and small urban communities in parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire. But the provider originally aspired to cover 1 million premises across 85 UK towns by the end of 2025, before the difficulties of raising fresh capital forced their build to stop (here and here).
However, despite the challenges, the provider’s CEO, Matthew Hare, recently expressed a strong desire to achieve their 1 million premises target via a different approach. “If we can’t build it ourselves then … you have to buy it,” said Matthew in July 2024 (here) before confirming that they “absolutely are” on the acquisition trail as a means of achieving their original coverage aspiration.
Matthew Hare, Zzoomm’s CEO, said:
“Stopping the build is all about availability of capital, it’s not about availability of opportunity or aspiration … 1 million premises is still a good target to get to as a footprint, and probably even a bigger number, but if we can’t build it ourselves then we’ll have to find another way of getting there. The aspiration is absolutely still there”.
The first details of this drive now appear to have surfaced after Sky News reported that Zzoomm had hired Acuity Advisors, a specialist technology firm, to identify prospective acquisitions. The altnet is already said to have engaged in discussions with a number of similar network operators in the same space, although realistically it could be months before we learn whether this effort is going to bear fruit.
Separately, the same article also alleges that CommunityFibre recently made an offer worth around £300m to acquire rival altnet G.Network in London, but were rebuffed. This follows news in July 2024, which suggested that G.Network was once again hunting for a buyer (here). CityFibre is also understood to have been sniffing around both operators and has expressed its own strong desire for M&A activity (here).