I heard they are going into bankruptcy

I read that their management is having a buyout and things are being 'delayed'

http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/News/press_office/Pres...

management buyout ? Last time I looked the shareholders were the management.

This is the latest I have on the situation, H2O Networks which was the arm of the I3 group delivering fibre for commercial and private businesses has been sold off to a group led by the i3 Groups former CEO, he had previous left the company late last year and so this is not an MBO.

From what I'm told the whole Fibrecity concept is dead in the water and I3 are now looking to shut down both Dundee and Bournemouth as quickly and as cheaply as possible, going forward they plan to purely concentrate on their overseas operations.

i3 Group announces sale of UK subsidiaries Fibrecity, Opencity Media and H2O Networks

Monday, 24 January 2011
i3 Group has today announced that City Fibre Holdings has acquired the shares of the Group's UK subsidiaries which include Fibrecity Holdings Ltd, H2O Networks Ltd, Opencity Media Ltd and Wireless Network Systems Ltd. The sale was completed on Thursday 13th January 2011.

Of the sale, Elfed Thomas, CEO of i3 Group says: "I started this business back in 2002 in order to focus on developing low cost methods, including the use of ready-made ducts, to build dark fibre optic networks to bring super fast connectivity to homes and businesses.

"This sale to City Fibre Holdings brings the i3 Group's business in line with our international approach. I decided to concentrate on a licensed technology model withdrawing from the actual build of fibre optic networks, while allowing our licensed partners and other infrastructure specialists, to benefit from our fast to build and low cost methodologies of fibre deployment."

City Fibre Holdings is a consortium led by Greg Mesch, former President and COO of i3 Group. The management team of this new company has extensive experience of building highly successful fibre optic based next generation networks including involvement in founding Esat Telecom and Verastel Telecom. Greg Mesch is also Non Executive Director of EuNetworks Group, a public-listed fibre optic based operator in 13 major metropolitan markets around Europe. City Fibre Holdings' strategy will be revealed over the coming weeks.

Fibre Associates, i3 America, i3 Asia Pacific and i3 Europe will remain part of the i3 Group. i3 Group will still have its head quarters in the UK.

Thank you for posting that (it does look official, it's on the i3 website, URL below).

I suspect I may be speaking for many others when I say

What the flipping heck?

As for the quote from Elfed: Who's going to be interested in licensing technology which has been proven a (predictable) failure in both places where a semi-serious commercial rollout has been attempted?

I can see how sewers can be attractive for links with a limited number of access points, but for mass market connectivity this was (and is) never going to be cost effective.

Any word on the Anglesey WiMax trial and which side of the divide that fits?

These guys are giving cowboys a bad name.

btw i3, it's Versatel not Verastel. Not that I'd expect you to care, but Greg might.

http://www.i3-group.co.uk/news--media/news/i3-group-...

sorry, meant to say alleged Anglesey Wimax trial.

I am guessing that the Anglesey service is under the Wireless Networks banner, i.e. part of the sale

Bournemouth council calls emergency meeting over fibre connection

It all sounded so good on paper. Fibrecity was a project from the i3 group which was designed to offer 100 Mpbs Fibre to the Home (FTTH) technology in some of the most modern cities in the UK, but the project has hit multiple barriers in the last year which has caused the council at Bournemouth to raise serious concerns about the service, who have called a meeting with the firm this week to talk about the issues concerning the work that’s been doing and damage caused to the infrastructure of the town and the road network. Had the company’s idea gone to plan, many more citizens in Bournemouth could have been enjoying fast and cheap broadband with no phone line services by this point.

The project has been having problems in both Dundee and Bournemouth in the last years, and firm went into a period of restructuring which again has taken far longer than many were expected. Most of the issues have revolved around the poor quality of the road work undertaken by the company which has resulted in many angry residents around the areas where fibrecity has been digging to place the new FTTH cable. Fibrecity had initially planned to use the Bournemouth sewer network in order to lay the cable, but after deals feel through last year they began the process of digging trenches in roads in order to lay the cable. This is obviously a far more expensive route and cost cutting from the company to account of this is believed to have led to the poor work on the roads.

This damage is to be discussed in a meeting this week. A city councillor, Peter Charon, commented:

“We have been concerned over the project since the work ceased in October 2010, leaving a number of roads and pavements needing remedial work. As Fibrecity is a statutory undertaker we are unable to prevent the work, however we will be insisting all the works are carried out to a high standard and, where this is not the case, additional work carried out.”

Mr. Charon also commented that the lack of communication from the project about the status of the restricting was unacceptable and the growing uncertainty of the projects future was major concern to the council.

Meanwhile, for those who are eagerly awaiting the FTTH service in the city, the company hasn’t actually laid any cable since October last year, so you might be waiting for quite some time yet!