Alternative network ISP Fibrus, which is deploying a new multi-gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of Cumbria and Northern Ireland, has today announced that they’ve secured an additional £100m tranche of Senior Debt and are now “fully funded to complete” their roll-out plan for 500,000 UK premises.
The new funding package represents an increase to the Belfast-based operator’s existing £200m senior debt facility and £20m revolving credit facility (RCF). The amendment to the existing facility was supported by all its existing lenders: UKIB, ING, LBBW, ABN Amro, Natwest and Sabadell, and three of these lenders are contributing to the £100m accordion facility.
In terms of build progress, Fibrus reports that they’ve now “largely completed” their build in Northern Ireland and have already covered 315,000 homes, which includes 245,000 through its commercial build and a further 70,000 through Project Stratum.
On top of that they’ve also built to over 60,000 homes in Cumbria and plan to reach 170,000 within the next two years (this is now fully funded by today’s debt raise). The operator’s total UK coverage thus now stands at 375,000 premises passed (it’s unclear if these are all ‘Ready for Service’), which is up from 354,000 premises on 31st March 2024.
Dominic Kearns, Founder & CEO, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have secured this additional tranche of debt funding with the support from our existing lenders. Receiving this £100m commitment in today’s very challenging market is particularly pleasing and is a huge vote of confidence in our business.
We are now fully funded for all our existing programmes, and within two years we will have built to half a million properties that can benefit from broadband that is done right.”
Colin Hutchinson, CFO of Fibrus, said:
“This £100 million funding will enable Fibrus to continue in its mission to transform the lives of customers who had previously been left behind. The support from our existing lenders, including UKIB who are contributing £55 million, demonstrates the strength of our plans to bring a faster, more reliable, and affordable broadband service to the hardest to reach parts of Northern Ireland and now Cumbria. The need for Fibrus is clear in the level of penetration we are achieving, particularly in Cumbria where penetration regularly exceeds 30% within a few months of launch.
The Fibrus roll out in Northern Ireland has made a significant contribution to the digital connectivity landscape, with the region now enjoying the highest rate of connectivity of all the UK regions – sitting at 91% coverage against a UK average of 56%.”
Finally, Fibrus notes that their customer base continues to increase, reaching 90,000 connected customers in July 2024 (up from 80,000 on 31st March 2024), and “achieving a penetration level of 23%“. This is a strong position for an operator at Fibrus’ stage of development to be at.
Residential customers can expect to pay from £24.99 £21.99 per month for download speeds of 159Mbps (average) and uploads of 34Mbps on a 24-month term (£39.99 thereafter), which rises to £44.99 £39.99 for their top 982Mbps (310Mbps) tier (£59.99 thereafter). The packages also include an Amazon Eero 6+ router (or routers), UK support, free setup and the pledge of “no mid-contract price hikes“. Prices may differ in areas of subsidised build. Fibrus does have a 2Gbps plan too, but they don’t advertise it.