Q2 2026 UK ISP and network supplier metrics

Full Fibre Majority, Market in Flux

In summary

• Total retail and wholesale fixed broadband connections reached an estimated 29.37m at the end of Q2 2026, up just 1,000 quarter-on-quarter from 29.36m and marking the flattest headline quarter in Point Topic’s recent tracking.

• Consumer segments accounted for approximately 27.06m connections, down 9,310 in the quarter, while retail business connections rose to 2.30m, up 10,310.

• Full fibre connections, defined as FTTB, FTTH and FTTP, reached 13.99m at the end of Q2 2026, up from 13.20m in Q1 2026 and 10.70m a year earlier.

• Full fibre added 790k lines quarter-on-quarter and 3.29m lines year-on-year, equivalent to 30.8% annual growth.

• FTTC/FTTx continued to contract, falling to 8.70m, while DSL dropped to 1.03m as copper migration accelerated.

• BT Group’s Consumer base across BT, EE and Plusnet reached 8.225m. Point Topic records Q2 2026 quarterly net additions of just 1k, essentially flat after a stronger start to the year.

• BT Consumer FTTP connections (BT, EE and Plusnet combined) reached approximately 4.50m, representing 54.7% of BT’s total consumer broadband base, up from 50.7% in Q1.

• Openreach’s FTTP footprint reached 23.44m premises passed, with 9.35m FTTP connections and take-up of 39.9%.

• VMO2’s combined FTTP footprint, including nexfibre, expanded to around 8.62m, but take-up slipped to approximately 7.8% as footprint growth continues to outpace connections.

• CityFibre became the first Altnet wholesale platform to pass one million connections, while Netomnia’s net additions pushed subscriber figures to 500k in the quarter as its proposed nexfibre merger entered CMA Phase 2 review.

• Point Topic estimates that Altnets’ full fibre base reached approximately 3.96m, up 179k in the quarter and around 18% year-on-year.

Retail (consumer and business) sector

Q2 2026 saw the UK fixed broadband market go essentially static, with total retail B2C and B2B SME connections reaching 29.37m, up just 1,000 net additions, the smallest quarterly movement in Point Topic’s recent tracking.  Full fibre added 790,550 lines in the quarter, but this was offset almost entirely by a sharp contraction in TalkTalk’s base as the company continued restructuring and asset offloading, alongside the usual reductions in FTTC/FTTx and DSL connections elsewhere.

Figure 1 Retail broadband connections by technology, Q2 2025 - Q2 2026 

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

Full fibre is now the largest single access technology in the Point Topic retail dataset, with 13.99m lines compared with 8.70m FTTC/FTTx lines.  VMO2’s DOCSIS 3.1 base declined to 4.98m, while DSL fell further to 1.03m. FWA, including 4G/5G fixed wireless access, continued to grow and reached 534k connections (Figure 1 above).

BT Group: FTTP now the clear consumer majority

BT Group’s consumer broadband base across BT, EE and Plusnet reached 8.225m at the end of Q2 2026, essentially unchanged quarter-on-quarter (+1k) after a stronger start to the year.  FTTP adoption continued to climb quickly, with approximately 4.50m consumer FTTP connections now representing 54.7% of the total base, up from 50.7% in Q1.  This marks a continued inflection: BT’s retail broadband strategy is increasingly about monetising and retaining fibre customers rather than migrating copper lines, with EE driving the bulk of net FTTP growth in the quarter.

The BT, EE and Plusnet brand mix remain strategically important. EE provides the premium converged proposition, BT has been reintroduced more actively across consumer products, and Plusnet remains a natural defensive brand against TalkTalk churn and value-led Altnet offers.

VMO2's fibre scale versus customer momentum

VVMO2’s full fibre take-up rate slipped to an estimated 7.8% at the end of Q2, as its combined footprint (including nexfibre) expanded to around 8.62 million premises, which is still materially behind Openreach’s take-up rate of almost 40%, and highlights a widening gap between network scale and customer conversion.

VMO2 reported a loss of around 28,000 broadband lines during the quarter; separately, Ofcom fined the operator a record £28 million in July for systemically obstructing customers who tried to cancel contracts between 2022 and 2024.  Netomnia’s subscriber base reached 500,000 in Q2 and its proposed combination with nexfibre entered the CMA’s Phase 2 investigation in July, with a final decision due by 15 December 2026. The contrasting momentum of VMO2, Netomnia and nexfibre is likely to remain a focal point for investors and competitors as that review proceeds.

Retail business broadband overview

Retail business broadband connections stood at an estimated 2.30m at the end of Q2 2026, returning to growth (+10,310) after a rare dip in Q1. The business market continued to be more fragmented than the consumer market, with a sizeable, long tail of specialist ISPs, resellers, channel-led providers and business-focused Altnets.

Figure 2 Top B2B providers by connections and net additions/losses, Q2 2026

B2B provider	Q2 2026 connections	Q2 net adds/losses
BT Group Business Wholesale	671k	-3k
BT Group Business Retail	574k	8k
Virgin Media O2 (O2 Daisy)	236k	0k
TalkTalk Business	160k	16k
Zen Internet	109k	-0.1k
Sky UK	101k	0.3k
Gamma Communications	100k	10.0k
Vodafone UK	78k	0.2k
YouFibre	38k	3.0k
Andrews & Arnold	25k	0.1k
ITS Technology	18k	1.2k
Hyperoptic	18k	0.3k

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

BT remains the dominant B2B access provider when retail and wholesale business segments are considered together.  Gamma Communications posted the fastest growth among mid-sized providers, adding an estimated 10,000 connections in the quarter, while TalkTalk Business (including PXC) also rebounded with 16,000 net additions even as TalkTalk’s consumer arm contracted sharply.  VMO2’s O2 Daisy base held flat, while Zen, Sky Business, Vodafone and specialist providers such as Andrews & Arnold, ITS Technology, bOnline and Vorboss remain the most visible long-tail business operators.

Retail new subscriber entry-level pricing trends for full fibre / gigabit-capable services

Entry-level ultrafast pricing eased slightly in Q2 2026, with the market average falling to £28.40 per month, down from £29.00 in Q1 or a 2.1% decrease (Figure 3).  The move was driven chiefly by Fibrus, which cut its entry-level price from £29.99 to £25.00, the sharpest reduction of the quarter, alongside a smaller step down from Gigaclear (£17.00 to £16.00, still the cheapest product tracked).  BT Consumer, VMO2, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Hyperoptic, Community Fibre and YouFibre all held their Q1 pricing unchanged into Q2, suggesting most major providers are holding a steady position ahead of the autumn pricing cycle.

Figure 3 Retail ISPs entry-level ultrafast pricing, Q2 2025 – Q22026

Source:  Point Topic quarterly tracking of operator tariffs carried out mid-quarter from ISP websites.

Infrastructure (wholesale) sector

Wholesale fixed broadband connections reached 29.37m at the end of Q2 2026, up just 1,000 quarter-on-quarter.  Openreach’s FTTP network passed 23.44m premises, while its FTTP connected base reached 9.35m. CityFibre remained the largest Altnet wholesale platform by RFS footprint among independent networks, with around 4.90m premises passed and 1.00m FTTP connections and becoming the first Altnet wholesale platform to pass one million connections.

Figure 4 Full fibre premises passed by leading network operators, Q2 2026

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

FTTP take-up and competitive conversion

The key competitive benchmark continues to shift from footprint scale to customer conversion.  Openreach remains the clear outlier in take-up performance, closing in on the 40% mark, while several Altnets with more focused footprints also show strong penetration (Figure 5).  Hyperoptic overtook Community Fibre this quarter to become the best-converting major Altnet. VMO2’s FTTP conversion remains notably low relative to its rapidly expanding combined footprint.

Figure 5 Selected FTTP / gigabit-capable network take-up rates, Q2 2026

Network	Connections	Premises passed	Take-up
Openreach	9347k	23.44m	39.9%
toob	112k	0.29m	38.4%
Hyperoptic	440k	1.30m	33.8%
Fibrus	150k	0.47m	32.3%
Community Fibre	465k	1.45m	32.0%
Gigaclear	175k	0.66m	26.5%
Zzoomm	48k	0.20m	23.5%
CityFibre	1000k	4.90m	20.4%
Netomnia	500k	3.20m	15.6%
Trooli	39k	0.47m	8.1%
VMO2 FTTP only	675k	8.62m	7.8%

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

Altnets added an estimated 179k FTTP subscribers in Q2 bringing their collective base to approximately 3.96 million, up around 18% year-on-year.  Average take-up across the Altnets we track remains in the low-to-mid 20s per cent, though the range stays wide.  Hyperoptic and Fibrus now lead the field at over 32%, while faster-building Altnets like Netomnia continue to trade off take-up for footprint expansion.

Outlook

Q2 2026 confirmed that the UK fixed broadband market has entered a genuinely flat phase at the headline level with just 1,000 net additions across the whole market.  Even as full fibre migration continues at pace underneath.  Openreach delivered record FTTP connection growth and closed in on a 40% take-up rate, BT Group’s combined FTTP base pushed further past the majority mark, and CityFibre became the first Altnet wholesale platform to pass one million connections.

The quarter’s standout story, however, was TalkTalk’s abrupt restructuring, which saw an estimated 766,000 customers leave its books and the largest single-quarter shift in Point Topic’s tracking, with much of that base reappearing among smaller regional and national ISPs rather than leaving the market outright. Combined with Ofcom’s unprecedented decision in July to provisionally block an Openreach wholesale discount on competition grounds, and the CMA’s Phase 2 investigation into nexfibre’s proposed acquisition of Netomnia entering its substantive phase, regulatory intervention is shaping the next stage of UK fibre competition as much as network build itself.

For many Altnets, the challenge remains converting FTTP footprints into profitable, retained customers rather than simply acquiring subscribers.  CityFibre’s reported £900m equity raise and Netomnia’s sharply slowing net adds both point to a market where funding discipline and regulatory scrutiny, not just build pace, will determine which platforms scale successfully over the next 12 months.

Access the full dataset

Full Q2 2026 metrics, operator-level data tables, and SPARQL access to the Point Topic knowledge graph are available to subscribers. Contact research@point-topic.com or visit www.point-topic.com to subscribe or request a trial.

About this analysis

This free analysis piece is based on Point Topic Q1 2026 estimates and company reports published to March 2026. It is provided for informational purposes. Q1 2026 figures are forward-looking context, not published data. © Point Topic Ltd 2026. Free to reproduce with attribution.