en.Wedoany.com Reported - CityFibre, the UK's largest alternative broadband provider, has announced it has reached an agreement to sell its non-core, non-owned network business Entanet to telecom entrepreneur Tom O'Hagan. Tom O'Hagan is the founder and former CEO of ethernet provider Virtual1, which became part of the TalkTalk Group in 2022.
Entanet is a communications provider focused on the business sector, acquired by CityFibre in July 2017 for £29 million in cash. The acquisition aimed to help expand its commercial wholesale base through multiple ISPs, and the brand has been less publicly mentioned since. CityFibre is owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, Goldman Sachs, Mubadala Investment Company, Interogo Holding, and others. Its full-fiber broadband network currently covers over 4.7 million UK homes (4.5 million ready for service), with plans to reach 8 million homes in the future. The network is supported by UK ISPs including Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet, and Sky Broadband. This Entanet transaction, subject to final approval, will allow CityFibre to focus on expanding services through its own full-fiber infrastructure, while enabling Entanet to grow under new ownership.
The sale includes Entanet-related partners outside CityFibre's network coverage, along with associated management services, network assets, systems, and support functions. Under the agreement, Entanet will operate as an independent wholesale aggregator and benefit from reinvestment in products, systems, and customer experience. Leveraging his experience in building and scaling Virtual1, Tom O'Hagan aims to expand Entanet's business scope, invest in its headquarters in Telford, and develop partnerships. Entanet will also become a new strategic wholesale customer for CityFibre.
George Wareing, Chief Commercial Officer at CityFibre, stated that the acquisition of Entanet nearly a decade ago played a significant role in accelerating its commercial market growth, and this sale is a logical next step, allowing the company to simplify its model and focus on delivering services solely through its own infrastructure. Tom O'Hagan said Entanet is a strong business with a 30-year history and a loyal partner base, and he plans to make significant investments in automation and a broader product portfolio to build it into a scaled wholesale platform, while expanding the services offered on its network.
The transition of Entanet is already underway and will be carefully managed to avoid issues. Entanet will continue to operate under its existing brand, with no disruption to ordering, configuration, or lifecycle service support. The same announcement noted that in the first quarter of 2026, commercial FTTP and ethernet sales on CityFibre's network grew 133% and 42% year-on-year, respectively. This development is essentially about ensuring CityFibre maintains its national broadband and ethernet network as a pure wholesale model.
