The Cloud goes for European land grab

News
By Maggie Holland
published

Wi-Fi giant has set its sights - and nearly £12 million - on gaining more business across Europe.

The Cloud wants to tap into European's appetite for wireless broadband by extending its Wi-Fi network in Europe.

Backed by a 15 million (11.8 million) investor-generated cash injection, the company is planning to aggressively grow its audience outside of its current 11-strong European country presence, where core business is focused on Denmark, Germany, the UK and Sweden.

The aim is to take advantage of a market it perceives to be "fragmented and primed for consolidation."

"I think everyone appreciates how tough the capital markets are and I believe the timing of this investment is a strong endorsement of the business and its plans for international expansion," said Steve Nicholson, The Cloud's chief executive.

"The Cloud is pioneering the adoption of out of home wireless broadband and we are strongly positioned to deliver the ultimate mobile internet experience as the market moves towards critical user mass."

The announcement comes on the same day that BT customers have been dealt the blow of no longer being able to access thousands of the company's hotspots due to the two companies failing to agree on costs.

Maggie Holland
Maggie Holland

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.