Q3 2026 UK ISP and network supplier metrics

Full fibre takes the majority as TalkTalk is broken up

In summary

• Total retail and wholesale fixed broadband connections stood at an estimated 29.35m at the end of Q3 2026, down just 4,650 quarter-on-quarter, as the market stayed flat at the headline level.

• Consumer connections rose 25,740 to 27.17m, while retail business connections fell 30,390 to 2.17m.

• Full fibre connections (FTTP and FTTB) reached 14.74m, up 758,550 in the quarter and 27.1% year-on-year, and now account for 50.2% of all UK broadband lines, the first time full fibre has passed half of the market.

• FTTC/FTTx fell to 8.02m and DSL to 0.96m as copper migration accelerated ahead of the January 2027 PSTN switch-off.

• BT acquired TalkTalk and PXC out of administration on 5 October. Before the deal, TalkTalk’s consumer base fell 208,000 to 1.50m as customers moved to Rise Fibre, Fleur Telecom and Utility Warehouse.

• BT Group’s consumer base across BT, EE and Plusnet was 8.217m, with FTTP at 4.74m, now 58% of the base.

• Openreach’s FTTP footprint reached 24.12m premises, with 9.90m connections and take-up of 41.1%. It passed 10m connections in October.

• VodafoneThree was the fastest-growing major ISP, adding 49,600 consumer lines including its new 5G Broadband FWA product.

• VMO2 lost 22,100 consumer lines and confirmed it will halt its fibre upgrade programme beyond existing commitments.

• Altnet network FTTP/FTTB connections reached 4.15m, up 184,450 in the quarter and 23.7% year-on-year. CityFibre reached 1.11m connections.

• Average entry-level ultrafast pricing fell 6.9% to £26.45 a month, led by Hyperoptic’s cut from £45 to £25.

  
  

Retail (consumer and business) sector

The UK fixed broadband market held flat in Q3 2026 at 29.35m connections, but its structure changed sharply. Full fibre added 758,550 lines, while FTTC/FTTx fell 657,000 and DSL 70,600. TalkTalk’s break-up ahead of BT’s acquisition moved around 140,000 customers to Rise Fibre, 13,500 to Fleur Telecom and an estimated 29,000 to Utility Warehouse, and Onestream entered our data at 121,000 after taking over Cuckoo’s customers.

Figure 1: Retail broadband connections by technology, Q3 2025 – Q3 2026

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

Full fibre is now the majority access technology, with 14.74m lines against 8.02m FTTC/FTTx lines. VMO2’s DOCSIS base fell to 4.94m and DSL to 0.96m, while FWA reached 529,100 connections, including 42,000 on VodafoneThree’s 5G Broadband product (Figure 1 above).

BT Group: record fibre adoption

BT Group’s consumer base across BT, EE and Plusnet was 8.217m at the end of September, down 8,000 in the quarter, which BT attributes to a new activation fee. Consumer FTTP grew 242,000 to 4.74m, now 58% of the base, with EE again taking the largest share of fibre growth.

TalkTalk: broken up, then bought by BT

BT acquired TalkTalk Telecommunications and PXC out of administration on 5 October 2026, protecting around 2.5m customers: 1.5m retail, 1.0m wholesale and 75,000 Ethernet. The CMA has imposed a pre-emptive action order, so TalkTalk is run separately from BT while the review continues.

VMO2 halts its fibre upgrade

VMO2 lost 22,100 consumer broadband customers in Q3, leaving 5.40m, and consumer fixed ARPU fell 5% to £45.83. It will halt its fibre upgrade programme beyond existing commitments and bring 2Gbps speeds to most of its cable network in 2027. With its combined full fibre footprint (including nexfibre) at 9.4m premises and 695,000 FTTP lines, take-up stands at just 7.4%.

Retail business broadband overview

Retail business broadband connections fell 30,390 to 2.17m, with almost all of the decline at BT as legacy copper and FTTC services are migrated or retired.

Figure 2: Top B2B providers by connections and net additions/losses, Q3 2026

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

Among the challengers, Gamma, YouFibre, Hyperoptic and ITS each added around 1,000 lines. Gamma agreed a £1.08bn cash offer from Epiris in September, with completion expected in the first half of 2027.

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

Entry-level ultrafast pricing fell to a market average of £26.45 a month in Q3 2026, down from £28.40 in Q2 (-6.9%) and the lowest in the five quarters tracked (Figure 3). Hyperoptic cut its entry price from £45.00 to £25.00, BT from £34.99 to £32.99, Sky from £27.00 to £25.00 and Community Fibre from £25.00 to £22.50, while VMO2 rose to £25.99 and Gigaclear to £19.00, still the cheapest product tracked.

Figure 3: Retail ISPs entry-level ultrafast pricing, Q3 2025 – Q3 2026

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

Infrastructure (wholesale) sector

Openreach connected a further 554,000 FTTP lines in Q3, reaching 9.90m on a footprint of 24.12m premises, and expects to reach its 25m build target in March 2027. Its total broadband lines fell 175,000 to 18.91m. CityFibre reached 1.11m connections on 4.8m premises passed and is raising capital ahead of a planned acquisition drive.

Figure 4: Full fibre premises passed by leading network operators, Q3 2026

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

FTTP take-up and competitive conversion

Openreach leads full fibre take-up at 41.1%, with Hyperoptic (36.6%), Fibrus (33.3%) and Community Fibre (32.9%) the best-converting Altnets (Figure 5). Altnet network connections reached 4.15m, up 184,450 in Q3 and 23.7% year-on-year, as consolidation replaced new build: Zzoomm absorbed Be Fibre, OFNL integrated FibreNest, Freedom Fibre and Truespeed now trade as one group, and Ares took control of toob.

Figure 5: Selected FTTP / gigabit-capable network take-up rates, Q3 2026

Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.

Outlook

Q3 2026 marked a turning point: full fibre now carries more than half of UK broadband lines, while the market as a whole stays flat. Two competition decisions will shape what comes next. The CMA’s review of BT’s TalkTalk acquisition will decide how TalkTalk’s 1.5m retail customers and PXC’s wholesale base fit into BT, and its final decision on nexfibre’s purchase of Netomnia, due by 15 December, will determine VMO2’s full fibre reach now that its own upgrade has stopped.

For Altnets, the focus has moved from build to conversion and consolidation, with CityFibre raising capital for acquisitions and several smaller networks stopping build altogether. Price cuts from Hyperoptic, BT and Sky point to sharper competition for full fibre customers ahead of the PSTN switch-off.

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About this analysis

This free analysis piece is based on Point Topic Q3 2026 estimates and company reports published to November 2026. Figures for earlier quarters have been restated in this release. It is provided for informational purposes. © Point Topic Ltd 2026. Free to reproduce with attribution.