The firm was lead contractor on Gloucestershire and Herefordshire County Councils’ Fastershire project to lay the infrastructure for broadband provider Gigaclear.

A spokesperson for Gigaclear told Gloucestershire Live: “We were notified on Sunday 31 October 2021 that Complete Utilities Ltd, one of our partners working with us to deliver ultrafast broadband across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, were to cease trading with immediate effect.

“Complete Utilities Ltd have been good partners to us in the region since the start of our activity in 2015 and were still under contract with Gigaclear for existing and a future pipeline of work.

“We are assessing the impact and are in the process of transferring commitments to other contractors in the region. We have begun communicating to stakeholders and residents.”

Latest accounts filed at Companies House show Complete Utilities had a turnover of £29.9m for the year to July 31 2020 from £34.3m last time as pre-tax profit fell to £528,543 from £3.74m.

The company employed 174 staff.

Steve Chaplin, director of Complete Utilities, told Gloucestershire Live: “Sadly having suffered delays in completing contracts and starting new ones due to Covid and resultant cash-flow problems the company has suspended trading whilst it reviews its options with professional advisers.”

The Complete Utilities website is now down and calls to its offices are going unanswered.