In 2019, Gigaclear saw revenue increase by 26 percent to £11.3m, up from £9.0m in 2018. The increase was, in part, driven by selling into new network areas and increasing the company’s penetration across some of its already established networks.
The consolidated operating loss for the year was £32.6m, up from £26.7m in 2018. Gigaclear says this was as predicted due to its continued focus on building new network areas that have associated initial costs. The company expects to become increasingly profitable as customers sign up to already existing networks and the rate of new network construction decelerates.
Gareth Williams, CEO, Gigaclear, said, “2019 was a year of change for us as a business. We implemented an approach that allowed us to get into a position from which we can now scale up, and quickly. With this in mind, we are satisfied with the numbers, especially given that building infrastructure like ours requires huge upfront investment that will see returns over time. In fact, we made enormous progress in 2019 thanks to our investments to increase our resource and regionalise key parts of our workforce.
“Our network spans hundreds of miles of some of the most rural areas in England and because it is completely futureproofed, we will continue to see returns on our investment for decades to come.”
The Gigaclear network has now passed 129,000 properties, a 39 percent increase compared to 2018. In addition, the number of properties declared as ready for service has grown by 48 percent.
Williams added, “We are more committed than ever to bring ultrafast broadband to underserved rural communities, empowering them to be able to do more. The fact that we were granted key worker status during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic shows just how important the work we are doing really is.”