UK altnet CityFibre has this week announced the acquisition of Connexin’s full fiber infrastructure.

The company noted that the deal will help it to establish a greater presence across Hull and East Riding, while adding up to 185,000 premises to its footprint.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed by the company.

CityFibre said that the acquisition includes Connexin’s built network assets, which currently pass more than 80,000 premises, plus plans for a further 20,000 premises and options to extend further throughout Hull over time.

The company added that it will also take on Connexin’s Project Gigabit contract to roll out gigabit-capable broadband to more than 34,000 hard-to-reach premises in Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire.

As part of the deal, CityFibre will integrate Connexin’s XGS-PON network to its wholesale products, pricing, and services across the footprint. CityFibre said it expects to complete the integration later this year, further extending its nationwide network, which already passes more than 4.4 million premises.

CityFibre aims to reach at least eight million premises across the UK.

The acquisition follows that of its acquisition of Lit Fibre in May 2024.

CityFibre has previously acquired other altnets, notably that of FibreNation’s network from TalkTalk for £206 million ($266m) back in 2020. That particular deal saw CityFibre increase its targeted rollout from five million premises to the current target of eight million premises.

Other acquisitions include Entanet back in 2017 for £29 million ($37m), plus the acquisition of national network assets from KCOM and Redcentric.

“Connexin has built an outstanding network, and it’s a brilliant fit for CityFibre. Our mature wholesale model will now bring Hull’s homes and businesses increased choice and access to unrivalled connectivity products, services, and prices,” said Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre.

“After our rapid integration of Lit Fibre’s network, we have demonstrated that this is an effective way to expand our footprint, and we look forward to playing an active role in the sector’s accelerating consolidation in 2025.”

Furqan Alamgir, CEO of Connexin, added: “This partnership will bring the best of our combined expertise to consumers and businesses alike across the UK. The next phase of our growth is tremendously exciting as we accelerate our focus on expanding our smarter home, business, enterprise, public sector, and utilities products and services across the UK, enabling these rapidly evolving markets to achieve ambitious goals through adopting smarter technology.”

Founded in 2011, CityFibre is a fiber-only provider. The company’s network competes with Virgin Media O2 and Openreach, a subsidiary of BT Group.

Back in September, Mesch declared that alternative network providers (altnets), such as CityFibre, have sparked the UK’s fiber push.

Rivals such as Virgin Media O2 have regularly declared that consolidation within the altnets space is essential for the UK’s fiber industry.