Summary
- Gigaclear has secured at least £80m in extra funding from its existing banks to support rural full fibre broadband.
- The provider says it is now fully financed to deliver its current build plans, while managing debt of about £1bn.
- Its FTTP network reaches about 612,000 rural premises with roughly 160,000 customers and an ambition to pass 1 million premises in time.
- Management reports EBITDA positivity and is targeting a penetration rate close to 28% on its existing network.
- The new funding underlines continued lender backing for rural fibre, even as many heavily borrowed altnets face slower roll-outs and job cuts.
Rural full fibre provider Gigaclear has raised at least £80m in new funding from its existing group of lenders. The additional backing is intended to support ongoing fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) rollout across hard-to-reach areas of England. The company says this leaves it fully funded to continue with its current build programme.
The announcement comes as Gigaclear marks its 15th anniversary. What started as a small-scale rural builder has grown into a network that now passes 612,000 premises, with about 160,000 homes and businesses connected. The long-standing ambition to reach 1 million premises remains in place, although that goal has slowed in recent years due to build cost pressures and job cuts.
New £80m from existing lenders
Gigaclear has secured the £80m from its current banking syndicate. This is not a refinancing or new facility, but a further injection that adds to the capital already in place. The funding allows the company to continue expanding its rural FTTP network without needing to seek external equity or a new funding round in the short term.
The business is presenting the deal as a signal of continued lender confidence, even as many other alternative networks have faced cutbacks or mergers. Gigaclear says it is now fully financed to deliver the remainder of its current rollout plan, which remains focused on rural communities, not urban growth.
For customers, the added funding reduces the risk of part-built projects being delayed. While it doesn’t remove all financial pressure, it provides more certainty for local authorities and rural communities waiting for fibre connections to go live.
What Gigaclear actually does
Unlike national providers such as BT or Virgin Media, Gigaclear focuses on delivering full fibre connections to rural areas — small towns, villages and scattered communities — where broadband over copper has historically been poor. Its network is entirely FTTP, meaning fibre is laid all the way to each premises rather than stopping at a roadside cabinet.
The company’s infrastructure now spans multiple counties in England. In covered areas, residents and small businesses can order full fibre packages offering faster download speeds and upload speeds that are equal to the download — especially useful for remote workers, cloud storage, and video calling.
For homes that previously struggled with buffering or unreliable video calls, having a Gigaclear connection can be a meaningful upgrade. But it’s not just about reaching new places. Gigaclear also needs to persuade enough premises to take the service to recover its build cost — a major challenge in sparsely populated areas.
Big debt and long-term backers
Gigaclear is backed by long-term infrastructure investors: Infracapital, Equitix and Railpen. Together, they’ve committed about £1.1bn in funding. On top of this, the company agreed a £1.5bn debt facility in 2023 with a group of banks. That package includes guarantees from the UK Infrastructure Bank to support rural fibre expansion.
Despite the latest £80m injection, the business is understood to carry a debt load of about £1bn. Managing that debt with a rural customer base puts pressure on growth targets and operating costs. Recent reports suggest shareholders and lenders have been reviewing strategic options — including a potential sale, debt restructure or fresh equity investment. There has been no official decision yet, and services to customers remain unaffected.
The additional funding helps provide breathing space. But it also reflects the tight financial conditions that many alternative networks are dealing with, especially those building into hard-to-reach areas.
Why lenders are still backing Gigaclear
The decision to provide more funding reflects confidence in operational progress. Gigaclear says it reached EBITDA positive earlier this year — a key milestone for any infrastructure-heavy business. While that doesn’t make the company cash-rich, it does show that revenue is now exceeding day-to-day operating costs.
Customer numbers are also moving in the right direction. Out of 612,000 premises passed, Gigaclear now has about 160,000 connected. The business says it is on track to reach a 28% take-up rate. That’s a key metric, because the higher the take-up, the more revenue the company generates from the network already built.
For lenders, steady take-up and operational efficiency give some reassurance that the business can service its debt over time — particularly if it avoids expanding too fast or overreaching into new areas before cash flow improves.
Focus shifting to Project Gigabit
As part of the government’s Project Gigabit programme, Gigaclear has been awarded several contracts to bring gigabit-capable broadband to premises that would otherwise miss out. These contracts focus on rural and “ultra-rural” locations, where private providers are unlikely to invest without subsidy.
Gigaclear currently holds Project Gigabit contracts in counties including Oxfordshire and East Gloucestershire. In 2025, the company says it connected more than 30,000 new premises through publicly funded schemes. Most of the current build activity is now focused on delivering those contracted projects, along with targeted infill work around existing infrastructure.
This shift reduces risk. Government-subsidised contracts offer more predictable income, assuming build milestones are achieved on time. They also align with national policy to bring faster broadband to almost all UK premises by the end of the decade.
Trying to build more efficiently
Gigaclear is also aiming to bring costs down. The company says it will continue to invest in “operational innovation”, including AI-powered planning and installation tools. These tools can help with route planning, predicting build issues, and scheduling engineers more efficiently.
Used properly, technology like this can shorten build timelines, reduce wasted visits and improve reliability of service. That helps both the company and its customers — with quicker installs and fewer delays. It also means Gigaclear can get more value out of every pound spent laying new fibre.
These improvements are especially important as the company adjusts to rising build costs, higher interest rates, and stronger competition from Openreach-based providers and Virgin Media O2. The days of cheap capital and aggressive expansion have passed. Now the focus is on doing more with less.
What this means for rural broadband users
For homes and small businesses already in Gigaclear areas, the new funding is good news. It signals that the company can continue supporting and expanding its network — especially in places where it is already contracted to build through Project Gigabit.
For those still waiting, it depends on location. If you fall inside a contracted area, you’re more likely to see a connection in the near term. If you’re just outside, or in a region where another provider is active, the case for extending fibre may take longer to stack up financially.
In some rural areas, Gigaclear may be the only provider offering full fibre. Where that’s the case — particularly if public funding helped build the network — pricing and service quality are likely to remain under scrutiny from regulators and councils.
If full fibre is still some way off, other technologies may be worth exploring. Depending on signal and data usage, 4G home broadband, 5G routers or low-earth orbit satellite options could offer an interim solution.
Signal for the wider altnet market
Gigaclear’s new funding also offers a read on the wider state of UK alternative networks. Many altnets raised debt when rates were low, and their business plans relied on faster build times and quicker take-up. In reality, build costs have gone up and customers have joined more slowly than forecast.
Some altnets have already scaled back, paused expansion or entered acquisition talks. Against that backdrop, new funding for Gigaclear — from the same lenders that already support the company — shows that rural fibre still holds strategic value, especially where public contracts are involved.
What happens next will depend on how the business performs against its current plan, how Project Gigabit contracts are delivered, and whether any new buyers come forward. But whatever the ownership outcome, one thing is clear: rural full fibre is still on the national agenda, and getting it built is going to rely on a mix of bank finance, long-term investors and government subsidy.
