GoFibre has completed a £125m funding round that will support its delivery of two Project Gigabit contracts in the south and north east of Scotland, bringing high speed connectivity to 130,000 premises.
The contracts will see around 63,000 funded premises added in the north east Project Gigabit area, and 13,000 in the Borders/east Lothian area.
The round is led by a £45m debt facility from the Scottish National Investment Bank (“the Bank”) alongside a further £80m from Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB). GoFibre was advised by Deloitte on the transaction.
Backed by Gresham House’s British Sustainable Infrastructure Funds, GoFibre was recently awarded a £105m contract by the Scottish Government for the delivery of the UK government-funded Project Gigabit in the north east of Scotland.
The Scottish Government is playing a key role in delivering project procurements in Scotland, working closely with the UK government to deploy funding.
The Forfar Indoor Sports Centre is a GoFibre customer.
Mike Ferguson, Managing Director, said: “With the new service, we’ve been able to make improvements to our business, like taking online bookings, and we can now livestream our curling matches so viewers can watch the action not only across Scotland but internationally too.”
Neil Conaghan, CEO of GoFibre said: “Our appointment as the supplier for the biggest Project Gigabit delivery area in Scotland, in the north east, builds on our win earlier this year for the first Scottish lot to be announced, for the Borders and East Lothian.
“We are playing a crucial role in bringing full fibre broadband connectivity to rural areas in Scotland, as part of our mission to bridge the digital divide.”
While connectivity has improved in recent years, Scotland’s urban-rural divide remains extensive. Ofcom figures show that just 44% of rural communities have full-fibre coverage, compared to 71% of urban communities.
The Bank is an impact investor, meaning its investments are aimed at delivering both commercial returns and societal benefit, with this debt investment further supporting digital broadband rollout across Scotland.
Ailsa Young, Investment Director of Innovation at the Scottish National Investment Bank said: “GoFibre is a great example of a Scottish scale-up that is targeting growth through delivering tangible local impact.
“Broadband is a critical service for businesses and communities. This continues to be an important sector for us, so we’re supporting GoFibre as it delivers important connectivity to the north east of Scotland.”
