CityFibre is to boost its roll out by up to 300,000 premises through the acquisition of fibre network operator Lit Fibre from Newlight Partners. The share-based acquisition will see Newlight Partners become minority shareholders in CityFibre and the deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.
The acquisition is the first of several transactions CityFibre expects to close over the next two years as it seeks to become 'the third infrastructure platform'.
Lit is a vertically integrated altnet, comprising a network builder and ISP. It has a current footprint of over 200,000 premises across more than 20 towns in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex and Suffolk, and serves a growing subscriber base of more than 9,000 retail customers.
CityFibre intends to complete Lit’s work-in-progress deployment as well as the majority of its planned network rollouts. Lit is currently on track to deliver up to 100,000 further premises by early 2025. Its network is built exclusively using existing poles.
CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch stated: “Our self-build rollout programme has already delivered more than 3.5 million premises to our partners and we’re accelerating this through targeted acquisitions like Lit Fibre.
“The UK market needs a third infrastructure platform of scale to ensure competition matures and that it continues to deliver for consumers and the country. Our acquisition of Lit is a clear demonstration of our intent to establish CityFibre as the core of that third platform.”