Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne invested in broadband Internet for the British

The structure of Mikhail Fridman LetterOne invested in the British project to create a fiber optic network. The Russian banker's investment will be used to provide a million homes in England with broadband internet.

According to the Financial Times, Friedman's investment company LetterOne invested in the project in England. Infrastructure company Upp aims to bring broadband to about 1 million homes in eastern England by 2025. The project itself is estimated at about $1.4 billion - of which investors will invest about $420 million of their own funds, and the rest will be financed by loans.

Upp CEO Drew Ritchie said LetterOne's investment will allow the company to focus on delivering next-generation broadband to areas of the UK that need it most.

Friedman's company has several projects in the country (for example, Holland & Barrett health food stores), but it is the first time investing in the UK's Internet infrastructure. FT explains the billionaire's interest in this area by the fact that the main market players - operators BT and Virgin Media - were late with the start of the transition from aging copper communication lines to more advanced fiber optics. Investors like Oaktree Capital and Goldman Sachs have already taken advantage of the gap that has made it meaningful to invest in small players.

Friedman himself has long lived in the UK and in 2019 was even recognized as the richest resident of London.

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Some of Fridman's investment projects have become grounds for criminal cases. For example, we talked about the circumstances of the Spanish Zed WorldWide case here .