Technology

Posted on March 25, 2019 by staff

£75m investment for Portsmouth firm Toob

Technology

A Portsmouth-based broadband start-up has secured £75 million investment and appointed a new chairman.

Toob is planning to begin a full-fibre roll-out targeting 100,000 homes and businesses by 2021 with a target of a million by 2029.

It will announce the location of its first roll-out later this year.

The funding comes from Amber Infrastructure Group’s National Digital Infrastructure Fund backed by £400m of public money through the government’s Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Toob also announced the appointment of former Gigaclear chairman Charles McGregor.

“Toob now has the right people, the right plan and the right funding in place to capitalise on the exciting opportunity ahead of us,” said CEO Nick Parbutt.

“We want to enable families, businesses and communities to live, work and play in ways which are only made possible with the advent of gigabit broadband.”

Matthew Vickerstaff, interim CEO of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, said: “This investment shows how the National Digital Infrastructure Fund continues to help companies improve broadband speeds across cities and towns in the UK, by increasing their access to private finance.

“Upgrading our digital infrastructure to be reliable, sustainable and resilient is key to meeting the needs of an increasingly digital world, and increasing our productivity.”