Open Access Operator SiFi Sold
A Dutch pension fund manager and German investment firm acquired the company for an undisclosed sum.
April 27, 2026 – Open access fiber operator SiFi Networks has been sold to Dutch pension funds and a German investment firm for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 2013, the company was one of the first privately held open access ISPs in the country. SiFi builds citywide, open access fiber networks.
APG, the pension fund manager, and Patrizia, the German investment firm, were already involved in a joint venture with SiFi, with Patrizia managing APG’s $500 million investment. The joint venture raised $350 million from a set of banks in 2023.
A Friday release and news article from APG said the first slate of SiFi’s city projects had now been substantially completed. SiFi has finished or is building infrastructure in 11 cities in five states as of last month, a SiFi executive said during a recent Broadband Breakfast webinar.
Most of those are in California, with one each in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, according to the company’s website, which shows an additional 18 cities have signed agreements on a SiFi network. Those are also mostly in California, plus two each in Ohio and Florida.
Wisconsin location completed in January
SiFi announced its 47,000-location Kenosha, Wis., project was fully completed in January. The company’s website also shows its Placentia, Calif., project as complete, with more than 20,000 passings.
“With my sale and exit of SiFi Networks America my time there is complete, and it’s time to continue the game-changing fiber to the home development that is transforming the North American broadband market,” Mike Harris, co-founder of SiFi, wrote on LinkedIn. “My mission is to create a more connected and inclusive world through fiber technology. Watch this space.”
Open access networks have been gaining traction in recent years, but the road hasn’t always been smooth for SiFi. As of 2023 the company was at least planning networks in 38 cities, compared to the current total of 29.
A project in East Hartford, Ct., stalled when an investor pulled out, and a Sataroga Springs, N.Y., project got tied up in a permitting dispute with the city, local news outlets reported. Neither project is now listed on SiFi’s site.
SiFi had sued investment firm Generate Capital, alleging the firm shared SiFi’s financial projections for certain city projects with another open access provider Generate had invested in. The two sides settled the case last year.
The release said Harris and fellow SiFi founder Roland Pickstock “plan to continue developing additional cities using their proven, market-leading solution, while APG and PATRIZIA will complete the rollout of the existing cities.”
SiFi is partnering with T-Mobile as the main tenant on its Kenosha, Wis., Rockford, Ill., Palmdale Calif., Oceanside, Calif., and Farmington, Mich., builds, the companies announced in 2024. Viasat signed on as a tenant for SiFi’s Escondido, Calif., build last year.
While SiFi projects are billed as citywide, they’re fully private as opposed to other open access networks that are partly owned by municipalities. SiFi CEO Ben Bawtree-Jobson told Broadband Breakfast back in 2019 that it was simpler to move forward without having to amass the necessary local political capital to push a municipal project over the finish line.
A 2024 report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found 47 city-owned citywide open access networks across the U.S. in September 2024.
Press release text
APG’s press release was not displaying properly as of Monday afternoon. The text, contained in the webpage’s HTML, is as follows:
APG Dutch Pension Fund
APG, acting on behalf of its Dutch pension funds and PATRIZIA have acquired the interests of sifi global which owns the interests of Mike Harris, Roland Pickstock the founders of SiFi Networks, in SiFi Networks Americas LLC.
The transaction follows the substantial completion of SiFi’s initial city rollout of its innovative open-access Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) networks. These deployments have delivered future-proof, gigabit-capable connectivity to homes and businesses across multiple U.S. communities and have established a proven model for privately funded, open-access infrastructure.
The deal allows both parties to pursue independent paths forward. Harris and Pickstock plan to continue developing additional cities using their proven, market-leading solution, while APG and PATRIZIA will complete the rollout of the existing cities.
About SiFi Networks America
SiFi Networks is North America’s leading privately owned developer of open-access, citywide 100% fiber networks. Its model funds, builds, and operates FTTP infrastructure that delivers symmetrical gigabit and multi-gigabit speeds while enabling multiple retail service providers to compete on a neutral platform.
About Mike Harris
Mike Harris is a proven multiple entrepreneur with successful track records in telecoms, IT, managed services, leisure, and sport. He is a pioneer in bringing open-access fiber networks to the USA
