Wholesale full fibre provider, ITS Technology Group has secured a furthermore £100m investment from current backer, Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva PLC, to continue to accelerate the rollout of its Faster Britain full fibre networks which is on track to pass 25% of UK business premises[i] by the end of this year.

Since securing the first round of funding from Aviva Investors in early 2020 (£45m), ITS has significantly increased its network footprint, known as ‘Faster Britain’ in the marketplace, delivering rich full fibre infrastructure to business dense areas where there is pent up demand for Gigabit-capable services.

Building on its indirect wholesale model, ITS’ Faster Britain partner programme has also grown substantially, with more than 300 Reseller, Internet Service Provider, and Managed Service Provider partners now able to access and provide Faster Britain Gigabit-capable connectivity to end-users. As a result, ITS has tripled its revenues year on year, and was EBITDA positive in FY21, a strong financial position it will build on again this year.

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS said: “I am delighted to extend our partnership with Aviva Investors. We have made significant progress over the last two years, building a highly skilled team, scalable delivery capabilities, and creating a substantial full fibre footprint. This further commitment will enable us to continue to rollout our open access wholesale digital infrastructure at pace, giving more businesses access to the connectivity solutions they need to underpin their operations. ITS can now connect any business in the UK via our partnerships with key operators and using our own Faster Britain networks which we are continuing to build out across business dense locations in major towns and cities. We have also invested heavily in developing the systems that allow our partners to easily access high quality full fibre connectivity through our wholesale platform.”

Sean McLachlan, Senior Director, Infrastructure, at Aviva Investors, said: “We are very pleased to continue our relationship with ITS and to support the extended rollout of its fibre networks across the UK. There has been a huge structural shift in data usage in recent years which continues to accelerate, and the continued investment in digital connectivity is fundamental to supporting how society functions today and tomorrow. ITS has made significant progress and outlined a clear vision to address this need. Combined with a strong team and expertise, we think this presents a compelling investment opportunity and look forward to working in partnership with them.”

ITS reuses existing infrastructure, or a ‘dig once’ approach, to build its full fibre networks which avoids the unnecessary disruption of road digs and minimises the impact on local communities. It can install end-user Faster Britain connections far quicker than the industry norm, often in days. Using the latest XGS-PON technology across its networks allows ITS to remotely scale and flex its service offering from basic broadband all the way to 10Gbps Ethernet leased lines.

Dow Schofield Watts acted as sole financial advisor on the transaction, RSM as tax advisors, and BDB Pitmans LLP provided legal advice.

ENDS

About ITS Technology Group (www.itstechnologygroup.com)

Aviva-backed ITS, designs, builds and operates full fibre networks. It launched its award winning ‘Faster Britain’ programme in early 2020 with the purpose of building wholesale full fibre networks where they are needed most. It is a founding member and board member of the Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI). Having pioneered a ‘dig once’ model that reuses existing infrastructure where at all possible, ITS’ connections are: Fast to install, often in days of customer orders being placed; Gigabit capable, offering the flexibility to scale to fulfil connectivity requirements and demand; Kinder to the environment as ITS will not dig up the roads if it can use existing ducts and other infrastructure.

Aviva Investors

Aviva Investors is the global asset management business of Aviva plc. The business delivers investment management solutions, services and client-driven performance to clients worldwide. Aviva Investors operates in 14 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and the United Kingdom with £268 billion in assets under management as at 31 December 2021.