The Broadband Infrastructure Company Ltd (formerly British Fibre Networks), which was once part of the i4 Technology Group, has been ordered to wind up its UK operations by the courts. The development comes after the company, which was previously run by CEO Elfed Thomas, found itself being hit by challenges from former staff over unpaid wages.
In case anybody has forgotten, British Fibre Networks (BFN) originally aspired to create an open access and 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband ISP network to serve over 35% of UK new build homes by 2020. But the somewhat optimistic ambition never quite came to pass.
However, part of the reason for the winding up order may be found in an earlier piece from Wales Online, which noted how staff who worked for the aforementioned companies had claimed they were still owed “thousands of pounds” for unpaid mounts awarded to them in employment tribunals over the past two years (e.g. the largest of these awards was for more than £65,000).
The staff had claimed everything from a breach of contract, to unfair dismissal, and even unlawful deductions from wages. But the article noted that a number of staff were still fighting to recoup the money years after the tribunal decisions were handed down. Meanwhile, i4TG, which last year survived one “First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off“, currently has overdue accounts but continues to trade for now.