George Soros pumps £50m into broadband start-up Hyperoptic The veteran investor's private equity fund Quantum Strategic Partners has backed the infrastructure effort. Hyperoptic is extending its fibre optic cables all the way into homes, allowing it to provide internet access at one gigabit per second, more than 10 times faster than the fastest packages on offer from BT and Virgin Media. BT's ongoing superfast broadband upgrade takes fibre optic cables only as far as street-side cabinets, with the final hop into homes along traditional copper phone lines that slow internet access. The cash injection from Mr Soros increases the capital available to Hyperoptic more than six-fold. It will use the money to extend its network outside London, where it has so far covered 20,000 homes in large blocks of more than 200 flats where economies of scale justify investment. Hyperoptic will gradually cover smaller developments as its costs come down. According to the business plan backed by Mr Soros, in three years Hyperoptic's network will cover 500,000 homes in 30 British cities, including buildings with as few as 20 homes. The venture was founded in 2010 by university friends Boris Ivanovic and Dana Tobak, who sold their previous start-up Be Broadband to O2 for £50m in 2005. Mr Ivanovic said the Soros family, now by far his biggest investors, had backed Hyperoptic because it was building infrastructure for the future. "Soros is a long-term investor," said Mr Ivanovic. It is not a question of whether people will need one gigabit per second but when. As well as expanding its network, Hyperoptic will use the investment to target corporate customers and introduce an internet television service, most likely using the YouView standard backed by the BBC, BT and TalkTalk.