Redundancy exercise starts after broadband provider goes into administration

A broadband provider with a Liverpool office has been placed into administration.

Broadway Partners and Broadway Fibre, trading as Broadway Broadband and Arran Broadband, also has an operation in Cwmbran, Wales.

Joint administrators, Benji Dymant and Daniel Smith, of Teneo Financial Advisory, were appointed on May 31, 2023.

Established in 2016, Broadway has been building affordable, high speed broadband networks for rural communities across Wales and Scotland. It has 971 fibre customers, 1,121 fixed wireless access customers and employed 137 staff.

Benji Dymant said: “Following significant investment in Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband, the sector has been facing into a number of adverse macroeconomic issues, including raising interest rates and inflation, in a highly competitive environment.

“Despite having successfully connected a range of outlying communities to its network, Broadway has not been immune to the impact of these issues. As a result, it’s been necessary to file for administration to facilitate a restructure of the business and provide a stable platform to affect a sale.”

The joint administrators will continue to trade the business and keep customers online while a buyer is sought.

They say the necessary funding is in place to guarantee service to its existing customer base, connect new customers to the existing network coverage and quality assurance. Broadway employees have been informed and a redundancy programme has been activated.

A notice on the company website said: “Broadway Partners was put into administration last week to allow us to restructure the business with the aim for it to be passed to a potential new owner who is able to take Broadway Partners to the next stage of development and continue to provide gigabit fibre broadband services to local rural communities.

“Whilst this is a big disappointment for everyone at Broadway, we are continuing to trade and provide our usual services to both new and existing customers on our high-speed fibre network.

“Customers of Broadway Broadband should see no change to their supply or ongoing administrative matters, and the Broadway Broadband support channels are operating as usual and remain available for customers, should you have any questions or technical difficulties.

“The affairs, business and property of the companies are being managed by the joint administrators.”