British telecom regulator Ofcom recently published its Connected Nations report for 2023.
The latest findings indicate that 17.1 million premises—or 57% of the United Kingdom—had access to full-fiber fixed broadband as of September 2023. This is an increase of 15 percentage points—or 4.6 million premises—when compared to the same point in 2022.
Notably, according to Ofcom, full-fiber coverage in each of the UK’s four nations had risen above the halfway point for the first time by Q3 2023, with 91% of homes and businesses in Northern Ireland having access to the technology.
Coverage in England, Scotland and Wales stood at 56%, 53%, and 55%, respectively.
While BT-backed infrastructure firm Openreach still accounts for the lion’s share of the UK’s fiber rollout—with over 13.8 million premises passed to date—several lesser-known firms are also gaining traction with their network rollouts.
Today, we take a look at five of the companies behind the UK’s biggest alternative networks. (Altnets, if you will.)
CityFibre
Headquarters: London
Investors:
- Antin Infrastructure Partners
- Goldman Sachs Asset Management
- Mubadala Investment Company
- Interogo Holding
- Newlight Partners
Homes Passed: 3.6 million (March 2024)
CityFibre was incorporated as a private company in November 2013 and has worked to position itself as the UK’s leading alternative wholesale full fiber network provider over the last decade.
In an early display of intent, in April 2014 the company agreed to work with ISPs TalkTalk and Sky on the rollout of a city-wide fibe-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to deliver speeds of 1 Gbps to tens of thousands of premises in York.
Another deal of note came in December 2015, with CityFibre announcing the conditional acquisition of national infrastructure assets from Hull-based KCOM for a total consideration of GBP90 million.
Another high-profile pact was announced in November 2017. CityFibre and Vodafone UK inked a long-term strategic partnership that would see CityFibre provide Vodafone with a period of exclusivity ("predominantly during the build phase of each city network") to market ultrafast consumer fixed broadband services over the FTTP network, which CityFibre would build, own, and operate.
More ambitious construction plans were unveiled in October 2018, with CityFibre announcing a GBP2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) investment program under which it would connect 5 million premises to full fiber, having identified 37 towns and cities where it already had critical fiber spine assets being primed for an FTTP rollout.
By September 2021 CityFibre had secured GBP1.125 billion in its latest capital raise. It claimed the financing was "the largest capital raise ever dedicated to full fiber deployment in the UK" and that the funds would support and accelerate its network deployment. Capital raised included new equity investments from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding, with the pair joining CityFibre’s existing investors as minority shareholders. (In March 2022 CityFibre announced a further equity commitment of GBP300 million from Mubadala.)
In November 2021 CityFibre confirmed that its fiber networks now passed 1 million homes.
The company originally planned to have deployments underway across more than 150 cities, towns, and villages by 2022, before expanding to 285 by 2025. But it's had to scale down its ambitions in recent years.
In May 2024 CityFibre completed its acquisition of Lit Fibre from Newlight Partners. The share-based acquisition was announced two months earlier and saw Newlight Partners join the company as a minority shareholder. At the time of the transaction Lit’s fiber network passed 220,000 premises across more than 20 towns in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex, and Suffolk, serving approximately 10,000 retail customers
As of March 2024, CityFibre claimed 3.6 million homes passed in more than 60 cities, adding that construction is underway to reach up to 8 million homes.
Hyperoptic
Headquarters: Hammersmith, London
Investors: KKR (~75%)
Homes Passed: 1.73 million (July 2024)
City-focused ISP Hyperoptic launched commercial gigabit services in London in September 2011, with what it claimed was the UK’s first residential tariff offering downlink and uplink speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
It was not until 2014 that Hyperoptic expanded outside the capital, switching on its network in Bristol, Cardiff, and Manchester in the back half of that year.
KKR closed its acquisition of a majority equity stake—understood to be in the region of 75%—in Hyperoptic in October 2019. It acquired its stake from funds managed by Newlight Partners and Mubadala Investment Company. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
In July 2024 the company announced that it had secured GBP150 million from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) to help "accelerate" its network expansion. At that juncture, the company claimed a fiber network that passed more than 1.73 million homes across the UK, with its footprint spanning parts of 64 towns and cities. Around 340,000 end-users are said to be connected to the company’s network.
Looking ahead, the operator expects to surpass the 2 million homes passed with its gigabit network before the end of 2024.
Netomnia
Headquarters: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
Investors:
- DigitalBridge Investment Management
- Soho Square Capital
- Advencap Limited
Homes Passed: 1,000,000 homes and businesses passed (July 2024)
Founded in 2019, Netomnia now boasts FTTP infrastructure in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
In April 2022, Netomnia and its retail ISP partner YouFibre secured GBP295 million in new funding from DigitalBridge Investment Management. The investment augmented follow-on commitments from existing shareholders Soho Square Capital and Advencap Limited.
In July 2024 Netomnia announced that it had reached the milestone of 1 million homes and businesses passed. The operator now presides over a total of 15,600 km of fiber in 100 communities across the UK. The rollout milestone comes just 12 months after Netomnia announced that its infrastructure passed 500,000 homes.
In a significant recent development, in June 2024 Netomnia announced its merger with fellow altnet brsk, which will create an entity that serves a combined total of 1.6 million premises when the deal closes.
Looking ahead, Netomnia is targeting 3 million premises passed by the end of 2025.
Gigaclear
Headquarters: Oxfordshire
Investors: Infracapital (79.93%) and the Railway Pension Trustee Company (Railpen, 16.92%)
Homes Passed: ~500,000 homes passed (March 2024)
Established in 2010, Gigaclear focuses on the rollout of fiber infrastructure in rural areas.
Gigaclear Networks, the company’s infrastructure arm, uses two investment models to fund its network construction: it connects rural communities using investor funds and it works alongside local authorities as part of the Building Digital UK (BDUK) scheme, bidding for contracts that part-subsidize the build of new super-fast broadband networks.
In March 2024 Gigaclear announced that its infrastructure is now classified as ready for service for half a million premises across the country, up from a 323,000 at the end of 2022. Alongside the coverage milestone, meanwhile, Gigaclear also confirmed that its infrastructure was now serving more than 100,000 subscriptions.
The ISP currently offers fiber coverage in 22 counties in the South West, the Midlands, and the South East. Going forward, Gigaclear is aiming to reach one million premises with its network by 2027.
brsk
Headquarters: London
Investors:
- Giorgio Iovino and Ian Kock (founders)
- Advencap
- Ares Management Corporation
Homes Passed: ~500,000 homes passed (April 2024)
brsk was founded in 2020 by Giorgio Iovino (CEO) and Ian Kock (COO), who previously founded fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) operator Vumatel in South Africa, which is now the country’s largest fiber network operator.
brsk launched commercial FTTP services in Cottingley, West Yorkshire in July 2021 before targeting parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, and the West Midlands, with the assistance of equity partner Advencap.
In August 2023 brsk secured an additional GBP156 million debt investment from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s Infrastructure Debt strategy. In a press release, brsk said the funding had been upsized from an initial GBP103 million commitment and totaled GBP259 million.
In April 2024 brsk announced that its FTTP network had reached a key milestone, with 500,000 homes and businesses now passed, of which 486,184 are classified as ready for service. brsk claims to be adding more than 30,000 new premises to its network footprint monthly. Looking further ahead, the company aims to pass 1 million premises by 2026.
As noted, in June 2024 brsk and Netomnia inked a merger agreement that will see the enlarged entity become the UK’s second-largest altnet, behind CityFibre, but ahead of Hyperoptic.
Tom Leins
Tom Leins is a Senior Research Analyst for TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. Based out of the company’s UK office, he also contributes to the company’s daily CommsUpdate newsletter, which includes his popular weekly MVNO Monday round-up. MVNO industry aside, Tom has developed a strong specialization in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean, tracking mergers and acquisitions, spectrum auctions, regulatory developments, market opportunities, and growth trends.