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London-based ISP Community Fibre (CF) has announced it has successfully raised £50 million in funding to help extend its gigabit-capable fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to more than half a million homes and businesses across the capital.
This comes from two investors, RPMI and Amber Infrastructure, and takes the total raised by CF in the last three years to more than £90 million.
So far, the company has already completed the deployment of ultrafast FTTP services to 70,000 premises in London and is on track to meet its goal of reaching 100,000 properties before the end of this year.
It has particularly focused its attention on social housing developments and has signed wayleaves with eight borough councils and nine housing associations, which includes half of London’s top ten landlords.
Chris Sellers, chair of CF, said: "This latest round of investment clearly demonstrates a strong vote of confidence in both our success so far and our plans for future growth."
Head of digital investment at Amber Infrastructure Khalid Naqib added that since his company's initial investment in CF last year, the business has matured rapidly and scaled up its rollout fourfold.
"We see enormous potential for it to grow further and faster and we will continue to help ensure it has all the resources it needs to achieve its ambition of delivering a full fibre future for all of London," he continued.
The money raised by CF over the last three years also includes £18 million of public funding through the government's National Digital Infrastructure Fund (NDIF). First announced in 2017, NDIF is a £400 million scheme to support the growth of full fibre broadband around the UK that aims to "revolutionise" the country's digital infrastructure.
HM Treasury has stated this investment will make internet access more reliable for homes and businesses, and enable more people to work remotely without disruption.
"The flexibility to work remotely is pivotal for driving our economy forward; reducing overheads and helping businesses to start and grow," the government stated.
