A new enterprise fiber network is set to provide London businesses with high-speed internet of up to 100 Gbps (gigabits per second) as part of a £250 million ($290 million) investment in the city’s infrastructure.
Vorbos was founded in London in 2006, originally as a software provider, but with the advent of cloud computing and growing demand from its customers, it has taken a few years back into the relationship – and is now benefiting from the latest regulatory changes. Existing infrastructure for newcomers.
The company It was bought by Fern Trading in 2020 for an undisclosed sum, with a £250 million investment to build what Vorbos calls “London’s only fully-fledged fiber internet network for businesses”.
Rules
While BT subsidiary Openreach provides infrastructure for most broadband providers in the UK (Virgin is an exception), a new Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) regulation was passed in 2019 to promote more competition in fiber networks, according to Vorbos.
Essentially, this new regulation allows third parties to lay their own cables within the existing pipeline infrastructure and attach or secure equipment to telegraph poles. And that’s what Vorbos has been doing for the past two years, running 500km (310 miles) of fiber optic cables directly to the premises (FTTP) – instead of going through copper and cabinet middleware – at a minimum speed of 10 Gbps.
This 10 Gbps baseline will cost customers £650 per month over the first 12-month contract, and represents a significant increase on the 1 Gbps cap offered by most other services – and services can go up to 100 Gbps, which Vorbos says some. Customers already receive it. This includes 22 Bishopsgate, which was one of the tallest office buildings in the UK when it opened last year and used the connection as a prime selling point for tenants.
22 Bishopsgate, also known as Twentyt, is a commercial skyscraper in the City of London.
Another interesting aspect of Vorbos is the diversity proofs. The company It says it has created more than 300 jobs for Londoners from 2021, 200 of which come directly from its own in-house training academy, meaning these recruits previously worked in completely different sectors before joining Vorbos. Notably, the company says 40 percent of its field-based installation team are women, with Chriswick saying they are aiming to maintain gender balance across all roles.
“We’re proud to be based in London and believe our team should reflect the diversity of our community,” Vorbos founder and CEO Tim Creswick said in a statement. “We know this can only happen if we attract new people to the industry.”
Full coverage
While Vorbos’ ultimate goal is to cover every commercial building in central London, there’s no sign yet that it’s looking to expand beyond the UK capital. Despite the rise of remote work and the recession, London remains an attractive proposition for local and international companies to set up offices as a major technology and financial center – contributing nearly a quarter of the country’s £2.2 trillion GDP. But businesses (and homes) in London and across the country often suffer from poor connectivity, with broadband speeds in the UK some of the slowest in Europe.
“London has a GDP of over £500 billion, yet many businesses remain at the mercy of restricted telecommunications products and business models,” said Creswick. “These legacy networks are limiting factors in critical technology decisions that can limit growth.”
Outside of London, the UK government is rolling out a range of initiatives to speed up access to more rural areas, including the £5 billion gigabit. It’s worth noting that there are other full fiber providers on the UK regulatory rollout, but this is where Vorboss wants to set itself apart – not only is it pulling broadband with a very fast start-up guarantee, but it’s only on business. Companies that subscribe to Vorboss do not share network capacity with homes.
“We believe it is right to focus on the city because no one is selling full coverage fiber directly in central London at least 10 Gbps,” a Vorbos spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Many try to do business and fiber-to-the-home on the same network, so they specialize in both. We are open and transparent when doing business, and we offer a guaranteed price for the duration of the contract.
