Northern Ireland full fibre broadband provider Fibrus has been granted another £100 million from its lenders as it continues with its bid to reach half a million homes within the next two years.
The company, which has received £325 million in public funding to date, said the additional finance is being provided from three of its existing lenders.
The company has also received private equity funding of around £200m, taking its total spend to £845m.
The biggest break for Fibrus came in late 2020, when Stormont’s Department for the Economy awarded it the £165m Project Stratum contract, to roll out fast broadband in rural areas around Northern Ireland.
The funding included £150m secured by the DUP’s 2017 ‘confidence and supply’ deal to support Theresa May’s Conservative government.
The expansion of Project Stratum put the Stormont funding package for Fibrus close to £200m.
The Belfast-based company has also landed £108m under the UK Government’s Project Gigabit, to connect 60,000 premises in Cumbria.
Fibrus says it has largely completed its build programme in the north, with its broadband services available to 315,000 premises.
The programme includes 85,000 premises connected under the £197m Project Stratum contract, with the remainder connected through its commercially funded build programme.
In Cumbria, Fibrus has connected 60,000 premises, which is set to increase to around 170,000 backed by the latest debt raise.
“Receiving this £100m commitment in today’s very challenging market is particularly pleasing and is a huge vote of confidence in our business,” said Fibrus founder Dominic Kearns.
“We are now fully funded for all our existing programmes, and within two years we will have built to half a million properties.”
Fibrus chief financial officer, Colin Hutchinson, so led on the latest debt deal, said: “The support from our existing lenders, including UKIB who are contributing £55m, demonstrates the strength of our plans to bring a faster, more reliable, and affordable broadband service to the hardest to reach parts of Northern Ireland and now Cumbria.
“The need for Fibrus is clear in the level of penetration we are achieving, particularly in Cumbria where penetration regularly exceeds 30% within a few months of launch.”
Earlier this year, Coalisland-based broadband installation firm Viberoptix, which is owned by Fibrus, initiated consultation proceedings to cut at least 100 jobs.
The company said it was reducing its workforce as it neared completion of its broadband roll-out work in Northern Ireland.
Fibrus increased its workforce from 369 to 675 people between 2022 and 2023. A large proportion of its employees in that time worked for Viberoptix.