NOTB caught up with Liam McAvoy, Managing Director at Hyperoptic as part of our recent Prop Tech feature.
Your background and how Hyperoptic began
Hyperoptic was founded in 2011 by Dana Tobak with her business partner, Boris Ivanovic. Previous to Hyperoptic, they started and managed Be Broadband in 2005/6, prior to its acquisition by O2. Be was the first to launch ADSL 2+ in the UK and offer Annex M for an increased upload speed. But they knew then that copper-based technologies would never truly deliver the speeds that people would need in future.
They could see the huge market opportunity for superior, faster and consistent connectivity and always had a full fibre company in mind for their next venture. So, they founded Hyperoptic to take the UK’s broadband infrastructure to the next level via creating a new full fibre infrastructure, offering 1Gb services and raising the level of expectations on the role of connectivity in British households.
I joined Hyperoptic in 2014 as a Regional Sales Manager and quickly rose up the ranks, through Sales Operations and Business Transformation. I am now Managing Director of Hyperoptic’s whole Business Development division. In this role I bring the voice of the client to the Executive team. My team is responsible for the strategic growth of business, via the negotiation of wayleaves and commercial agreements to feed Hyperoptic's infrastructure team with serviceable homes, and the ISP team with potential customers.
How you work with property managers
Hyperoptic’s initial business model focused on building relationships with private and public landlords and installing a new infrastructure to those residents and businesses in the accessible buildings. It has now signed wayleaves and agreed partnerships with 250+ new build developers and freeholders, including large asset management companies, local authorities, housing associations, registered providers, RTMs, and independent freeholders.
For property managers, and property management companies, we have a dedicated team that ensure a smooth cost-free installation, with minimal building disruption and collaborative resident comms. We understand that in order to support their role that we need to be a trusted partner that enhances the quality of life for their residents, without causing them any added stress or unnecessary administration
How you compare to other providers on the market
The UK currently has one of the lowest full deployment in the OECD, with around 18% coverage. The Government has pledged that it wants 85% of the UK to have access to a gigabit-capable connection by 2025. Full fibre infrastructure is a fundamental foundation to build a modern economy based around the Internet. It’s also essential to enable people to connect the next generation of internet services that depend on high-speed internet (like e-health applications, home enterprise, driverless cars, virtual reality etc.). Hyperoptic is pioneering the shift to Gigabit Britain, shaking up the broadband sector by setting an industry benchmark in how broadband should be delivered to the home. Our relationships with property managers and freeholders are key to help us expediate our rollout.
Visions for the future of proptech industry / Hyperoptic
Our ambition is to for us to maintain our leadership as the gold standard of home and business broadband – to be renowned as the company that matches hyperfast speeds with excellent service. We have more 5* Trustpilot reviews that BT, Sky, Virgin Media and Talk Talk combined.
We believe that with full fibre, comes limitless potential. It also provides the digital infrastructure for other proptech innovations to flourish. There are so many exciting developments in the pipeline that will enhance the resident experience – such as building sensors, zero-touch technologies, predicative repairs and maintenance apps etc – and can all perform to their absolute optimal level with a full fibre foundation.
