A NORTHERN Internet Service Provider has announced a £75million equity investment from Equitix, alongside Albion Capital.

This has put the company on track to connect hundreds of thousands of homes to their network, and Grain is already connecting up thousands of homes in Barrow and the wider region with their reliable broadband service.

In addition to this equity funding, Grain has begun discussions with lenders in preparation for a £100m debt funding process.

The combined funding will support Grain’s plans to extend its footprint to cover an initial 300,000 homes and businesses across Great Britain, with a focus on both new-build housing developments and existing urban housing.

Grain works with developers in well over 100 locations across Great Britain.

Grain has already begun to roll out full fibre hyperfast broadband services to a number of towns and cities across the North of England and this programme will now accelerate across the country.

As well as bringing excellent fibre internet access to customers, Grain’s growth will generate substantial employment in both Carlisle and the regions where their network is deployed.

Grain’s Chairman, Sean Williams, said: “We are delighted to have secured such an excellent funding partner in Equitix, a leading investor in European infrastructure with a long-term investment strategy and clear vision for our business. The Grain team are already accelerating the build programme and are hugely excited about the opportunity to scale up the excellent national platform that we have already established.”