Dutch Pension Fund Manager Buys 16.7% Stake in SiFi, Invests $500M in Open-Access Fiber Networks

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2021 – Dutch pension fund manager APG Group NV announced that it is buying a 16.7 percent stake in fiber network builder SiFi Networks and creating a joint-venture to rollout open-access fiber-to-the-home infrastructure in the United States.

APG’s $500-million investment in the joint venture will “contribute to bridging the digital divide in the US where over one-third of households do not have access to high-speed internet by offering fiber connections to those underserved communities,” a Tuesday press release said.

SiFi said it’s currently building FTTH networks in multiple cities and has construction agreements with “many more.” It said that it intends to spend billions of dollars over the coming years on these networks.

“SiFi’s networks enable future-proof connectivity and provide smart city solutions aimed at improving the quality of life and generating revenues and savings for cities,” the release said.

“APG is excited to announce an additional investment with SiFi that will position the Company to provide vital infrastructure to underserved markets and customers well into the future,” Patrick Kanters, APG’s managing director of global real assets, said in a press release. “This partnership also contributes to APG’s ambition to support digitalization and the energy transition, as fiber is more energy efficient than copper or cable.”

Ben Bawtree-Jobson, CEO of SiFi Networks, said in the release that, “Cities, Consumers and ISPs can all benefit from our citywide fiber optic networks. From enabling Smart City applications, driving economic development and closing the digital divide the advantages of becoming a FiberCity are staggering and we’ve only just scratched the surface of what is possible.”

Open-access networks provide third-party providers the ability to share the same fiber, which in theory increases the number of providers, enhances competition, and lowers prices.

SiFi has been trusted with millions of dollars over the years to build these networks. In September 2020, it launched its first fiber city on the east coast, in Salem, Massachusetts. At that point, the city of Fullerton, California turned on the first section of a citywide open access network built by SiFi, funded by the Smart City Infrastructure Fund.

The agreement comes as the industry advocates for more fiber buildout to sustain the future of connectivity, coming off – and still in the midst of — a national health crisis that has forced home the workforce and schools.

Broadband Breakfast hosted a panel on Wednesday that echoed a call for future-proofed networks through fiber and praised the Senate-passed infrastructure bill, which includes $65 billion for broadband, for allowing the flexibility to scale up connectivity across the country.