Airband has closed a £100m debt package to accelerate its full fibre rollout to rural homes and businesses across the West of England.
The facility, which comes from an international banking consortium including HSBC, Lloyds, Nord LB and Sabadell, should help Airband service 600,000 premises by 2025.
Founder Redmond Peel said: “The pandemic has increasingly highlighted the deficit some communities in the UK face when it comes to services that those living in urban areas take for granted.
“Access to reliable and fast broadband that is fit for modern day lives – from home education and online grocery shopping during the lockdown through to the digitisation of many services, such as banking and streaming entertainment – can no longer be considered a luxury, but rather a basic utility.”