U.K. communications regulator, Ofcom, recently announced that gigabit broadband was in the final stages of being universally available to U.K. residents, according to ComputerWeekly.com. Ofcom data shows that currently, about 69 percent of U.K. premises have access to full fiber, up from 40 percent in 2021, with gigabit-capable network coverage at 83 percent of those premises. At the current deployment pace, Ofcom says the U.K. could see full-fiber connections reach 96 percent of homes and businesses in the next two years, Inside Towers reported.
Moreover, over 70 percent of those premises can receive service from two or more broadband providers. Therein lies a looming issue, according to Think Broadband, the UContinue Reading
In a new report, Think Broadband, pointed out that while the U.K. broadband marketplace is robust, it is crowded with both incumbent telcos and cable companies and numerous alternative network (altnet) providers, all vying for broadband market share.
The report looks at both gigabit broadband availability and full-fiber coverage in each U.K. country – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It highlights that altnets are trying to compete primarily against the country’s leading provider, Openreach, which connects to 93 percent of homes and businesses in the U.K., according to Inside Towers Intelligence. Think Broadband regards altnets as playing a vital role where incumbent fiber-to-the-premises services are not available.
While full fiber availability has increased 6.3 percent since Think Broadband’s last report in July 2024, the firm says that gigabit coverage has only increased by 2.7 percent during the same period. The latter trend is attributed to overbuilding, where altnets are building fiber over existing wired telephone or cable networks but not necessarily offering gigabit speeds that Virgin Media’s cable network does. More than that, the report shows that some full fiber altnets are overbuilding each other in some markets.
A similar situation is shaping up in the U.S. Several big acquisitions have already been announced – Verizon (NYSE: VZ) buys Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FYBR), AT&T (NYSE: T) is bidding for Lumen Technologies’ (NYSE: LUMN) fiber-to-the-home business and T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) has invested in smaller overbuilders, Lumos and MetroNet, Inside Towers reported. A number of smaller fiber companies are overbuilding cable networks in various markets around the country and likely are positioning for being acquired.
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