We caught up with Sasho Veselinski, Co-Founder and CEO of G.Network, one of London’s fast-growing independent network providers, to find out how our recent £295m investment will help them bring fibre broadband to residents and businesses across London.
G.Network is laying down miles of fibre cable, bringing faster and more reliable broadband to Londoners; a huge improvement from the outdated copper cables that we’ve all been relying on for years. And with the support of our investment, they’re planning to do this across 80% of the 13 Inner London boroughs over the next five years.
Sasho founded G.Network just five years ago, along with David Sangster, a fellow telecommunications expert. So, it’s still a relatively young business. Investing in a company early on means we can be part of its growth story over the long-term. Not only that, but the 30-year or more lifecycle of fibre makes this a great long-term investment. The investment will generate long-term returns for you, our members, and your pensions.
Now, let’s get to the questions…
We’re delighted to invest in another UK business, but what does it mean for you to have USS invest in G.Network?
The USS Investment Management team are bringing their expertise and deep background in infrastructure investment to help make the rollout as fast and smooth as possible.
The long-term investment by a pension scheme means certainty for the planned rollout to connect 1.4 million premises to full fibre broadband within five years.
Of course, this can’t be done without our talented team, and we’re creating 1,250 new jobs to support this rollout. As the project grows, our team will too.
What motivated you to start G.Network?
I’ve been building communication networks and providing telecom services for over 20 years, and I wanted to create more choice in the London broadband market.
London is an iconic city which needs a fundamental upgrade of its broadband network from copper to fibre. The UK government encouraged companies to upgrade the country's broadband connectivity, and I wanted to be a part of that initiative.
Digging up nearly all of central London, delivering thousands of connections every month and providing a broadband service is a really complex job. To be successful, it’s important to deliver what’s been promised. I think we’re delivering that promise and will continue to do so.
What will our recent investment help you to deliver for your customers and the people of London?
We believe that reliable, high speed broadband should be available to everyone, so we’re aiming to cover at least 80% of premises in each of the 13 Inner London boroughs within five years. By building brand new, resilient and robust infrastructure, Londoners will benefit from this for years to come.
The investment from USS is vital in delivering that infrastructure work, as well as connecting customers to it.
Once our initial rollout is complete, we’d like to expand to the remaining London areas and other parts of the UK where better broadband is needed.
What’s one thing you would like our members to know about G.Network and what you do to help support the London economy?
We’re building infrastructure which will dramatically improve the competitiveness and wellbeing of London’s residents and businesses.
Around 80% of London’s broadband connections still rely on copper, which isn’t very reliable and produces lower speeds. By contrast, our brand new network is 100% fibre, which can provide any speed needed in the future. Our aim is that our service is affordable. We're building the network on an 'Open Access' principle, so other providers can offer connections to their customers using G.Network infrastructure in the future.
Full fibre ultrafast, reliable broadband connectivity is a must have utility these days.
This is just one of the many investments that we make with your contributions, find out more about how your contributions are invested.
Published: 12 April 2021
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