UK Broadband suffers £37.5m loss after big Relish investment

Hong Kong-based UK Broadband – the parent company of wireless broadband provider Relish – reported a loss of £37.5m for 2014.

The firm warned that its current business plan, which relies on two key factors, remained uncertain and may need to be ripped up. It said in its latest filing on Companies House:

The first of these is the level of demand and the prices that can achieved for the company's proposed new services. Secondly, the availability on suitable terms of the funding required to roll out the company's planned network.

UK Broadband, which is owned by Hong Kong's telco PCCW Group, added that if it failed to secure the funds needed to deploy its LTE 4G and Wi-Fi network, alongside a lack of take up for its services from consumers, then the company's licences and tangible assets may be impaired.

The company's turnover last year was £1.5m, down half a million pounds on 2013's figures.

In June 2014, Relish – a new tentacle of UK Broadband – began offering a landline-free, "fibre-fast" package over its LTE 4G and Wi-Fi network at a monthly fee of £20 to Londoners living in the heart of the city.

PCCW has given the outfit a year to turn its fortunes around. ®