Leicester-based UK broadband ISP Giganet Networks has today confirmed to ISPreview that, despite putting their best efforts toward attempting to refinance the business, the provider was ultimately unsuccessful and recently appointed a licensed insolvency practitioner to help navigate the situation.
The confirmation probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to our readers, given that the provider had already shifted their residential customer base over to the Telecom Acquisitions Group (i.e. Home Telecom) between June and August 2024 (here and here). But this was initially promoted as a means for the ISP to re-focus on their wholesale and channel business instead.
Despite this, we recently heard that Gigabit Networks’ business and channel customers were now being looked after by Global4, which meant that there wasn’t much of a business base left. The current situation isn’t yet being reflected via Companies House, but the provider’s CEO, David Yates, was kind enough to provide an update.
David Yates, Gigabit Networks CEO, told ISPreview:
“It has been a difficult time in the market and number of factors conspired against Gigabit Networks and its ability to trade profitably. Mounting bad debt within the consumer side of the business coupled with the cancellation of a significant new investment from existing investors put the business in an untenable situation.
Despite our best efforts to refinance the business we were ultimately unsuccessful. As a result, we appointed a licensed insolvency practitioner last month.
All customer services have been maintained throughout this time and have now been transferred to Telecom Acquisitions Ltd as previously reported by ISP Review.”
Naturally, our thoughts go out to the company’s staff too, who will hopefully be able to find a new home. Such situations can be very disruptive for all involved, particularly customers, but it could also be seen as a reflection of the difficult trading environment that many ISPs and network operators currently find themselves inhabiting.