TalkTalk flogs Fibre network

That will be 200 million to keep CityFibre regular

British broadband supplier TalkTalk has flogged its fibre network to Goldman Sachs-backed CityFibre for 200 million pounds ($260 million).

TalkTalk said it had agreed a wholesale agreement with CityFibre for its residential and business customers in the areas in which it builds networks, a deal that would help underpin the fibre network operator’s expansion.

TalkTalk started laying its own fibre optic cables in a trial, initially with broadband rival Sky, to challenge BT which was a little too slow building its own fibre-to-the-premises networks.

It created a new company called FibreNation in 2018, which had ambitions to build a network serving three million premises.

The sale of FibreNation to CityFibre was delayed late last year when the opposition Labour Party pledged to nationalize BT’s Openreach network if it won a December election, a move that would have upended the broadband market. The threat was removed with a decisive victory by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives who have no interest in providing such a service.

TalkTalk Chief Executive Tristia Harrison said the deal was good for TalkTalk and for Britain and its full-fibre ambition.

“The sale of FibreNation to CityFibre, in combination with a competitive wholesale agreement, enables us to continue our strategy to accelerate TalkTalk’s fibre growth for our residential and business customers, thereby delivering a superior customer experience at an affordable price”, she said.

TOPICS:

cityfibre · talktalk