Oxfordshire: Voneus acquires broadband provider Cotswold Wireless

Voneus, the rural community broadband specialist, has acquired Cotswold Wireless, the local high-speed broadband provider – its first acquisition since raising over £5 million in growth funding in June.

Aiming to be the UK’s market leader in rural broadband provision, Voneus expects this acquisition to increase the company’s capacity to connect a further 3,000 homes and businesses – growing its reach while increasing its market credentials. Cotswold Wireless specialises in high-speed broadband for the Cotswolds, helping over 400 homes and businesses in the local region. This purchase strengthens Voneus’ network and will help additional households and businesses in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire become ‘connected’.

It is the first time either firm has undertaken a move of this scale. Part of the Voneus ‘buy-and-build’ strategy to accelerate its growth plan, this purchase is the first of many to ensure the business scales quickly and efficiently, while importantly ‘connecting the nation’.

Expanding the Voneus network throughout Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, the acquisition will connect more local families, enable remote-working and ensure enhanced access to education through heightened rural connectivity.

Cotswold Wireless was founded in 2004 and specialises in delivering fast, reliable broadband to the Costwolds. Voneus, which first entered the market in 2011, has already scaled its expansion plans since raising £5.3m growth funding in June. Specialising in wireless ‘air fibre’, Voneus is accelerating its rapid growth to achieve a national footprint, while bringing parity between rural areas and city dwellers.

“Our mission is to rescue rural communities from the pain and indignity of slow broadband, without them having to wait years for Fibre,” said Steve Leighton, CEO, Voneus. “Buying Cotswold Wireless, helps accelerate this. The important thing is increased access to communities and we want to make sure the ‘digital divide’ between urban and rural areas drastically decreases so people can go about their everyday lives interruption-free”.

Tristram Charnley, founder, Cotswold Wireless said: “Being part of the bigger Voneus network will give our existing customers access to new products, increased service benefits and other opportunities over time.”

New customers can be live and receive high-speed broadband within months, not years, with no roads required to be dug up. Voneus works with supportive Tier 1 providers on initial connectivity to install broadband quickly and effectively to deliver speeds between 35Mbps and 50Mbps using an innovative Wireless Fibre To The Home (WFTTH) solution, rivalling other services in the industry. The company currently has ongoing installations in Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.