Fibrecity Holdings

Fibrecity Holdings was formerly owned by i3 Group and was acquired in a Management buyout in January 2011 by CityFibre Holdings Ltd. The firm was acquired because of the scale and value of the fibre to the home network already built in Bournemouth, currently the largest in the UK.[1]

Fibrecity Holdings
Limited
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedLeeds, West Yorkshire, England (2008); acquired by CityFibre Holidngs in 2011
Headquarters271 Regent Street, London, England
Key people
Greg Mesch, CEO
Mark Collins, CCO
Parenti3 Group
Websitewww.cityfibreholdings.com

i3 Group launched Fibrecity Holdings as a new high speed fibre optic infrastructure to be built in the UK and was also promised for overseas cities and metropolitan areas. It was said to provide connection speeds of 100 Mbit/s to homes, SMEs and educational facilities on the network. The network uses 'fibre to the home' (FTTH) technology.[2]

The infrastructure build was started by i3 Group in Bournemouth in 2009 and this was to become the UK's first Fibrecity. The next UK Fibrecity was announced to be Dundee where work on installing the infrastructure was reported to have started in summer 2010.[3]

i3 Group announced but ceased involvement with a Fibrecity project in Brisbane, Australia.[4]

Investigation

In late October 2010, the build suddenly ceased in Bournemouth and also in Dundee only shortly after works had started in the Scottish city. Revelations about the financial backing behind H2O Networks (another i3 Group company)[5] were released in February 2011. Total Asset Finance, the backers, were subject to an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and, allegedly, currently owe KBC Bank over £130 million. Over £90 Million of this is apparently related to loans being used to finance H2O Networks.[6]

Restructure

In late April 2011, CityFibre Holdings announced that it had successfully restructured the business with the full consent of KBC Bank who also has a 5% option in CityFibre Holdings.[7]

Since 5 April 2011, the Fibrecity website is unavailable as it is no longer operating as a customer facing company but forms part of CityFibre Holdings. The i3 Group website now says i3 is a worldwide technology licensing company rather than an infrastructure delivery and operation company as originally announced. It was reported on 7 June 2011 that i3 Group has gone into administration.[8][9]

In mid-April 2011, it emerged that service to customers in Bournemouth had been suspended since the end of February. CityFibre Holdings are currently carrying out extensive repairs and testing of the network. Greg Mesch announced that 24,000 homes will be passed and ready for service by the end of the year. According to CityFibre its networks will guarantee minimum speeds of 100Mbit/s up and downstream, increasing to 1Gbit/s.[10]

References
  1. "The i3 Group Sells UK Fibrecity Broadband Projects amid Council Fury". IS Preview. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  2. "Fibrecity offers Dundee residents 100Mbit/s FTTH". Computing. September 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  3. "Bournemouth the priority for new owners of 'fibrecity' superfast broadband project". The Courier. 5 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  4. "A Series of Tubes #120: Your guided walk through the NBN forest!". IT Radio. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  5. "SFO probes Total Asset Finance". 14 February 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  6. "Fraud investigation at Total". www.vrl-financial-news.com. 10 February 2011.
  7. "Firm caught up in fraud investigation is pre-packed". The Business Desk. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  8. "i3 Group founder calls in administrators". The Business Desk. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  9. "i3 Group enters administration". Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  10. Martin, Andy (26 April 2011). "Fibre optics pledge for Bournemouth". Bournemouth Echo. Bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
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