CityFibre Infrastructure Hldgs PLC CityFibre welcomes HM Treasury Fibre Fund

TIDMCITY

CityFibre Infrastructure Hldgs PLC

22 November 2016

 
  For immediate release    22 November 2016 
 

CITYFIBRE INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS PLC

('CityFibre' or the 'Group' or the 'Company')

CityFibre welcomes HM Treasury Fibre Fund

GBP1bn support from Government to benefit alternative builders of fibre infrastructure

CityFibre (AIM: CITY), a leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities, welcomes the Treasury's intention to unveil GBP1bn of support to accelerate the rollout of pure fibre and 5G infrastructure at the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.

The aim of the funding, which will include GBP400m investment into a Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, is to boost commercial finance for emerging fibre broadband providers looking to scale up. This is entirely aligned with CityFibre's view that infrastructure competition is the only way for the UK to close its yawning fibre gap with other developed nations.

As the largest competitive investor in wholesale fibre infrastructure, CityFibre is already present in 40 towns and cities across the UK, including 25 of the top 30 cities outside London. With an ambition of expanding to 100 cities by 2025, this expanded footprint would allow CityFibre to deliver true fibre connectivity to 60% of the UK's businesses and 40% of homes outside London.

The Company's Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) trial with Sky and TalkTalk in York has demonstrated the critical role that its infrastructure plays in delivering FTTH faster and at lower cost. Additionally, the Company's network in Hull enabled the UK's first dark Fibre-to-the-Tower deployment, which underlines the role CityFibre can play in the 5G wireless rollout. Both FTTH and 5G connectivity can be extended across CityFibre's 40 cities, demonstrating the pivotal role the Company will play in any national fibre deployment programme.

Greg Mesch, Chief Executive of CityFibre, commented:

"As a pure fibre infrastructure pioneer and the company behind the UK's growing ranks of Gigabit Cities, CityFibre welcomes the Chancellor's support to accelerate the deployment of fibre and 5G to homes and businesses. Britain's industrial strategy needs a digital backbone, and it is essential that we move quickly to plug the UK's 'fibre gap' and empower our service-based economy. This new funding, stimulating competitive fibre rollout at scale by new communications infrastructure builders, is a catalyst for the delivery of the UK's fibre future."

For further information, please contact:

 
  CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings         www.cityfibre.com 
   plc 
  Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer       Tel: [phone] 
                                             0774 
  Terry Hart, Chief Financial Officer 
  James Enck, Head of Investor Relations    Tel: [phone] 
                                             6283 
 
  finnCap (Nomad and Joint Broker)          www.finncap.com 
  Stuart Andrews / Christopher Raggett      Tel: [phone] 
   (Corporate Finance)                       0500 
  Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking) 
 
  Liberum (Joint Broker)                    www.liberum.com 
  Steve Pearce / Steven Tredget /           Tel: [phone] 
   Richard Bootle                            2000 
 
  Vigo Communications                       www.vigocomms.com 
  Jeremy Garcia / Fiona Henson              Tel: [phone] 
                                             9701 
 

About CityFibre:

CityFibre is the national builder of Gigabit Cities, as the UK's largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure. It has major metro duct and fibre footprints in 40 cities across the UK and a national long distance network that connects these cities to major data-centres across the UK and to key peering points in London.

The company has an extensive customer base spanning service integrators, enterprise and consumer service providers and mobile operators. Providing a portfolio of active and dark fibre services, CityFibre's networks address 28,000 public sites, 7,800 mobile masts, 280,000 businesses and 4 million homes.

CityFibre is based in London, United Kingdom, and its shares trade on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: CITY). Further information on the company can be found at www.cityfibre.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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November 22, 2016 02:02 ET (07:02 GMT)