The newest State of UK #Broadband report from thinkbroadband is out, covering UK #FTTP market, with a lot of analysis of #altnets. Well worth downloading and reading, especially for its analysis of #overbuild, where multiple players build parallel infrastructures along streets. Link: https://lnkd.in/eMvVvf9b The UK market is now at 69% homes passed, predicted to be 95% in May 2026. There isn't as much detail on homes (or businesses) connected, or exactly what "passed" really means. For those unfamiliar with the UK market, there has been a gold-rush in recent years, especially when interest rates were low. Over 150 networks started building out fibre, ranging from local cooperative ISPs to major PE-backed players such as CityFibre. New entrants mostly focused on specific towns / districts, rural areas or building types. Some went straight to XGS-PON. Consolidation is now ongoing. BT Group was slow to adopt full fibre, with both its retail ISP and wholesale Openreach more focused on FTTC / VDSL until about 3 years ago, when it started pushing FTTP *hard*. It has been overbuilding altnets' fibre in many places. #Overbuild is a contentious issue. Received wisdom is that a roughly 30% "take-rate" is needed for positive ROI on fibre build, although that varies by area and other factors. At the moment, the report estimates 22% of UK premises have two FTTP networks, and 3% have three or more. In theory, if there's good #openaccess wholesale with slick processes, high-quality build, flexibility (eg for symmetric 1G/2G if ISPs want) then overbuild can be inefficient. In reality, some overbuild is inevitable and even desirable, especially at a fine-grained level, such as fibre along both sides of a busy road. It helps keep the wholesale market "honest", especially as Openreach's footprint grows. It ensures coverage occurs faster and more completely, with access to not just homes but also MDUs, business premises, street assets like mobile towers and so on. Some homes on sideroads, like mine, don't have FTTP availability despite a build on the main street about 50 metres away. Wholesale regulation is broadly OK, but slow to keep pace - the next Ofcom Telecom Access Review is ongoing for 2026-2031, but presumably may be influenced by the recent change of government. There's a risk that altnets get ignored by policymakers, as seen in the EU. The fact that BT only overbuilds, rather than uses perfectly good existing alternative FTTP assets doesn't suggest confidence in the concept of wholesale. It's prepared to be a seller but not a buyer - even as a retail ISP. It doesn't suggest that competition or structural decomposition is currently as effective as it could be. That shoudl change. (I see a similar lack of symmetry in network APIs - telcos should be on both sides of the market). It will also be interesting to see if the new (delayed) one-touch switching process changes the competitive landscape. Plenty to keep an eye on!
🇬🇧 Jason Silver
3mo
So 30% of country still not covered. Including many homes within 30 miles of Central London. Surely there must be a better option (like following the German approach maybe 🤔).
Tim Ocock
3mo
My next door neighbour has Hyperoptic. Thinkbroadband thinks I have Hyperoptic at my post code. But Hyperoptic availability checker thinks I'm still months away from being able to get Hyperoptic so they won't let me place an order. What gives?
Openreach was always going to build fibre everywhere that’s viable for an altnet to build fibre. Any altnet that believed it wouldn’t be overbuilt by Openreach was delusional. The quality of the fibre builds by many altnets is terrible - it makes no sense for Openreach to consume it. The interesting question for me continues to be what happens to the sub-par assets when their owners run out of cash…?
Kevin Morgan
2mo
Thanks for sharing Dean Bubley
Insightful assessment💫
Builder and Consultant on Open vRAN, Small Cell and EdgeAI Networks
3moIn 4 weeks we get our annual inquisition from Greg Mesch how OpenReach can be regarded as fully separate when it doesn’t use 3rd party/Alt-Net wholesale fibre. It's now untenable to continue wasting resources and sullying the reputation of Telecoms by constantly barricading people in their homes and trashing their pavements, when more people could have Full-Fibre sooner. Openreach cannot even offer my house a complete copper pair and Fibre might be next year. A mile away they're overbuilding Netomnia. Somehow they've managed to keep kicking the can down the road, but a new administration has to revisit the question separation and seek quick remedies in order to avoid opening an investigation. https://www.telcotitans.com/connected-britain/bt-quashes-talk-of-openreach-split/7192.article